 "‘Musk protecting his own interests:’ Major rift in White House as top Trump advisors spar over tariffs")
A top economic advisor to US President Donald Trump, also the architect of the reciprocal tariff regime, has criticised billionaire Elon Musk for his remarks against the policy, accusing him of looking after his personal interests.
Peter Navarro, White House senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing, told Fox News Sunday (April 6) that while he thought Musk was doing great work at the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), he was simply ‘protecting his own interests’ by opposing US tariffs on key trading partners.
“Elon when he’s in his DOGE lane is great, but we understand what’s going on here. Elon sells cars. He’s simply protecting his own interests,” Navarro said.
He further acknowledged that Musk’s companies like Tesla are set to take a hit from the tariffs, adding that he sources a lot of components from China.
“They get a lot of their content from China, Mexico, Japan and Taiwan and elsewhere,” said the top Trump advisor.
Is Musk breaking with White House on tariffs?
Musk, who is also a top advisor to Trump, has been a vocal supporter of the president’s policies. However, he has been quiet since Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement led to the US stock market losing a whopping $2.5 million, a loss of value that cost the Tesla CEO more than $30bn, CNBC reported.
Taking to X, Musk earlier vented his frustration at Navarro, arguing that a PhD from Harvard can result in a big ego. “A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing,” he wrote. “Results in the ego/brains»1 problem,” he added in the post.
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View AllAnother user replied to the Tesla CEO, trying to defend Navarro, but Musk rejected the argument and questioned Navarro’s practical economic experience.
“He ain’t built s***,” the Tesla CEO wrote.
In a separate statement, Elon Musk said he hopes the Trump administration will relax tariffs on Europe. This comes after the administration announced a 20 per cent general tariff on goods from the European Union just last week.
“At the end of the day, I hope it’s agreed that both Europe and the United States should move ideally, in my view, to a zero tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America,” Musk said during a video-link at a congress in Florence of Italy’s right-leaning co-ruling League.
“If people wish to work in Europe or wish to work in North America, they should be allowed to do so in my view,” Musk told League leader Matteo Salvini, adding that this “has certainly been my advice to the president.”
Musk has been a vocal critic of tariffs in the past as well. Last year, during a podcast, Musk said, “I think you need to be careful with tariffs.”
“I deal a lot with supply chain issues like the global automotive supply chain for Tesla is incredibly complex. So, when there are sudden changes in tariffs … it messes everything up.”
He had also batted for having predictability in the global tariff regime, something that has definitely gone for a toss under the new US administration.
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