Top White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Elon Musk is only looking after his own interests after the world’s richest man criticized him and seemed to break with the Trump administration on tariffs.
“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 told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Navarro added that Musk’s Tesla supply chain is clearly set to take a huge hit from the tariff regime. He pointed out that while Teslas are made at factories in Texas, “they get a lot of their content from China, Mexico, Japan and Taiwan and elsewhere.”
However, he tried to downplay any beef between him and Musk.
“There’s no rift here. Look, Elon, he’s got X, he’s got a big microphone. We don’t mind him saying whatever he wants. But, just, the American people need to understand that we understand, what that’s all about, and it’s fine,” Navarro continued, further suggesting Musk was protecting his personal interests.
On Saturday, Musk took several public shots against Navarro, the White House senior counselor for trade and manufacturing — who is seen as one of President Trump’s top advocates of the sweeping tariffs he announced last week that will put hefty duties on most of America’s big trading partners.
“A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing. Results in the ego/brains>>1 problem,” Musk vented on X Saturday in response to a user touting the trade adviser’s explanations of tariffs.
Another user chimed in, saying that Navarro was “correct” in his assessment of tariffs, prompting Musk to retort, “He ain’t built sh—.”
In separate remarks, Musk expressed his desire for the Trump administration to ease up on tariffs against Europe. The Trump administration announced a 20% generic tariff against the European Union 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 careful about directly criticizing Trump’s tariff push, which has been at the core of the president’s second-term economic agenda. But, he has been critical of tariffs in the past.
“I think you need to be careful with tariffs,” Musk told podcast titan Joe Rogan late last year. “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.”
“You want to have tariffs be predictable so that tariffs can adjust their supply chain,” he added. “I think companies are more than happy to increase manufacturing in America, it’s just that you can’t do it instantly.”
The billionaire tech baron has become a close Trump ally and spearheaded the president’s efforts to root out waste and bloat across the government as part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Musk has helped DOGE as a special government employee, but that status is set to expire by the end of next month. Trump has insisted that Musk “can stay as long as he likes” amid speculation that the White House is planning to say goodbye once the special status expires.
Trump had announced the largest slate of US tariffs in a century against virtually all countries as part of his “Liberation Day” event last Wednesday. Trump’s baseline tariff of 10% went into effect Saturday and his customized tariffs against specific countries are set to take effect this coming Wednesday.
Navarro has championed Trump’s tariffs and is widely seen as one of the key architects of them.
“We are going to have the biggest boom in the stock market we’ve ever seen under the Trump policies,” Navarro predicted during his interview with “Sunday Morning Futures.” “The reality here is that institutionally, the international trade system is designed to cheat us. They have systematically higher tariffs on us.”
“So President Trump says no more — ain’t happening on his watch. And that’s where we’re headed. We’re heading towards a strong America that makes things again.”
