As Tesla shares plummeted for a fourth straight day, CEO Elon Musk set free on President Donald Trump’s top trade advisor, Peter Navarro.
Musk, the world’s richest person, began going after Navarro over the weekend, posting on X that a “PhD in econ from Harvard is a nasty thing, not an excellent thing,” a reference to Navarro’s degree. Whatever subtlety remained originally of the week has since vanished.
On Tuesday, Musk wrote, “Navarro is actually a moron” in response to the trade advisor’s remark that Tesla is more of a “automobile assembler” than a automobile manufacturer, adding that Navarro’s comments are “demonstrably false.” Musk called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” before later sarcastically apologizing to bricks. Musk also called Navarro “dangerously dumb.”
Musk’s attacks on Navarro represent essentially the most public spat between members of Trump’s inner circle because the president took office in January, and show that the steep tariffs Trump announced Wednesday on greater than 180 countries and territories haven’t got universal approval within the administration.
When asked concerning the feud in a briefing Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “Look, these are obviously two individuals who’ve very different views on trade and on tariffs.”
“Boys can be boys, and we are going to let their public sparring proceed,” she said.
Musk’s younger brother, Kimbal — a restaurant owner, entrepreneur and Tesla board member — has joined in on the motion. Kimbal Musk criticized the tariffs Monday, calling them a “everlasting tax on the American consumer.” He followed that up Tuesday by posting on X that the China-U.S. standoff is “not a game that ought to be played by C-minus students like Peter Navarro.”
For the Tesla CEO, the name-calling appears to be tied to business conditions.
Tesla’s stock is down 22% prior to now 4 trading sessions and 45% for the yr. Tesla has lost greater than $585 billion in value because the calendar turned, equaling tens of billions of dollars in paper losses for Musk, who can also be CEO of SpaceX and owner of xAI and social network X.
Even before Trump detailed his plan for widespread tariffs, he’d already placed a 25% tariff on vehicles not assembled within the U.S. Many analysts said Tesla could withstand those tariffs higher than competitors because its vehicles sold within the U.S. are assembled domestically.
But the corporate’s production costs are poised to extend due to the tariffs on materials and parts from foreign suppliers. Canada and Mexico are among the many leading sources of U.S. steel imports, and Canada is the nation’s largest supplier of aluminum, while China and Mexico are home to major suppliers of printed circuit boards to the automotive industry.
At an event Saturday hosted by right-wing Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, Musk said, “Each Europe and america should move, ideally, for my part, to a zero-tariff situation, effectively making a free trade zone between Europe and North America.”
Musk, whose view on trade relations with Europe stands in stark contrast to the policies implemented by Trump, has a vested interest within the region. Tesla has a big automobile factory outside Berlin, and the European Commission has previously turned to SpaceX for launches.
Even before the tariffs, Tesla’s business was faltering. On Wednesday, the corporate reported a 13% year-over-year decline in first-quarter deliveries, missing analysts’ estimates. That report landed two days after Tesla’s stock price wrapped up its worst quarter since 2022.
Musk, who spent roughly $290 million to assist return Trump to the White House, is now leading Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which has slashed costs, eliminated regulations and cut tens of 1000’s of federal jobs. In the primary quarter, Tesla was hit with waves of protests, boycotts and a few criminal activity that targeted vehicles and facilities in response to Musk’s political rhetoric and his work within the White House.
Correction: A previous version of this story had an incorrect figure for Musk’s contributions to the Trump campaign.
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