[CTC] Musk Disparages Trump’s Trade Adviser as Tariffs Upend the Economy

[Arthur Stamoulis]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/us/politics/musk-navarro-tariffs-fight.html


Musk Disparages Trump’s Trade Adviser as Tariffs Upend the Economy
The feud between two of President Trump’s top advisers is playing out as
the administration’s new tariffs have caused huge losses across global
financial markets.
By Tyler Pager <https://www.nytimes.com/by/tyler-pager>
Reporting from Washington

   - April 8, 2025Updated 4:45 p.m. ET

Elon Musk slammed President Trump’s top trade adviser as “dumber than a
sack of bricks” on Tuesday, exposing a remarkable rift in the president’s
inner circle over the wide-ranging tariffs that have upended the global
economy.
The feud between Mr. Musk and Peter Navarro, who has been the architect of
many of Mr. Trump’s trade plans, has been simmering for days as the
administration’s new tariffs have caused huge losses across global
financial markets.
So far, Mr. Trump has not weighed in on the clash between his top aides,
both of whom he claims to hold in high regard. But Mr. Musk’s words —
though aimed at Mr. Navarro — were a rare criticism of Mr. Trump’s policies
from one of his most influential advisers.
Mr. Musk, the world’s richest man, is estimated to have lost roughly $31
billion since Mr. Trump announced sweeping tariffs on foreign countries on
April 2, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index
<https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/>.
The squabble escalated on Monday when Mr. Navarro said on CNBC that Mr.
Musk was not a “car manufacturer” but a “car assembler” because Tesla, Mr.
Musk’s electric vehicle company, relied on parts from around the world.
Mr. Musk fired back on Tuesday, calling Mr. Navarro a “moron” and “dumber
than a sack of bricks” in a post on X, the social media site he owns. Later
in the day, Mr. Musk doubled down, posting that he wanted to “apologize to
bricks.”
“That was so unfair to bricks,” Mr. Musk wrote. He also used a slur to
refer to Mr. Navarro, calling him “Peter Retarrdo.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, tried to downplay the
feud.
“Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue,” she
told reporters.
Mr. Navarro ignored questions from reporters at the White House on Tuesday
afternoon about Mr. Musk’s posts on social media.
Mr. Trump has long allowed, and at times fostered, conflict between his top
advisers, but it is unusual for animus between aides to play out so
publicly. Mr. Navarro was a senior official on trade issues during Mr.
Trump’s first term and stayed loyal to the president afterward, even spending
four months in jail
<https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/us/politics/peter-navarro-prison-convention.html>
after
being convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to testify in its
investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Mr. Musk, a key member of the president’s inner circle who spent hundreds
of millions of dollars to support his presidential campaign, is usually a
staunch supporter of Mr. Trump’s policies. But the tariffs have been an
exception.
Mr. Musk has rejected Mr. Trump’s approach and called for “zero tariffs”
between the United States and Europe. He has chastised Mr. Navarro for
having a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard, writing that was “a bad thing,
not a good thing,” and then posting that Mr. Navarro “ain’t built”
anything, using an expletive. (He later deleted the second post.)
Mr. Musk’s brother, Kimbal, has also critiqued the tariffs, posting a
flurry of messages on X over the last several days and defending his
brother. He asserted that the president had “implemented a structural,
permanent tax on the American consumer.”
Mr. Musk often uses his X account to barrage his critics, insulting them
and inciting his nearly 219 million followers to join in. Since acquiring
Twitter and renaming it X, Mr. Musk has often targeted judges who have made
rulings about his companies that he disagrees with. And in recent months,
Mr. Musk lashed out at judges who have slowed or halted his federal
cost-cutting efforts at the Department of Government Efficiency.
Since Mr. Trump announced the tariffs last week, administration officials
have given varying and, at times, conflicting explanations in public about
the president’s plan. Mr. Navarro has been adamant: The tariffs are not a
negotiating tactic to win more favorable trade deals with other countries.
But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has signaled that Mr. Trump is open to
negotiations as countries flood the White House with calls to discuss new
deals.
“President Trump, as you know, is better than anyone at giving himself
maximum leverage,” Mr. Bessent said on Fox News.

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826
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