Elon Musk spent Tuesday break of the day slinging insult at one of President Donald Trump ’s top trade advisors Peter Navarro . The billionaire oligarch referred to Navarro as a “ cretin ” who ’s “ dumber than a sack of brick , ” dubbing him “ Peter Retarrdo , ” as new reports rise up that Musk is in camera lobbying to put a plosive consonant to Trump ’s duty on goods add up from almost every country in the globe .
Musk looks like broken that Navarro criticized the way that Tesla manufactures motorcar during an coming into court on CNBCon Monday , smirking when Andrew Ross Sorkin direct out that Trump calls Musk a “ superstar . ”
“ Elon ’s a elevator car manufacturing business , but he ’s not a elevator car manufacturer . He ’s a car assembler in many case , ” Navarro said . “ If you go to his Texas plant life , a good part of the engines that he let , which in the EV case is the batteries come in from Japan and come from China . The electronics come from Taiwan . ”
Donald Trump and Elon Musk speak in the Oval Office before departing the White House on his way to his South Florida home in Mar-a-Lago in Florida on 5 May 2025.© Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images
Musk saw the clip on X Tuesday , calling Navarro infantile gens but also insisting that he was completely wrong about how Tesla car are bring out in the U.S.“Tesla has the most American - made motorcar . Navarro is obtuse than a sack of brick , ” Musktweeted , tagging both Navarro ’s XTC account and a far - right hand account call @IfindRetards .
“ By any definition whatsoever , Tesla is the most vertically incorporate automobile manufacturing business in America with the highest percentage of US content , ” Musk wrote . “ Navarro should necessitate the imitation expert he invented , Ron Vara . ”
Ron Vara is a reference to the person Navarro contrive to use in his 2011 bookDeath by China , billed as a Harvard economics expert in the book but does n’t actually exist . Ron Vara is just an anagram of Navarro . When it was discovered that Navarro had invented a fake expert , the publisher added a note to the beginning of the book of account for next editions .
Musk , who has long promoted free trade insurance , is understandably worried with the tariffs that Trump annunciate last week on nearly every state around the world , including some of America ’s close friend . Most country were rack up with at least a 10 % tariff , though many other countries have seen shockingly high tariff above and beyond that , which are scheduled to take effect at midnight tonight . China , for example , was slap with a 34 % duty on top of the exist 20 % duty that he already imposed . On Tuesday , the admin raise the full tariff on Chinato 104 % .
Musk has been destroying the U.S. federal government with his so - call Department of Government Efficiency , a job he clearly relishes . But the tariff fight is the first seeable stress between Musk and Trump since they first allied formally in the summertime of 2024 during the presidential election movement . Musk spent roughly a fourth of a billion dollars to help get Trump elect and it was widely understood that Musk would profit from being able to one-sidedly choose which contracts would get cut . None of Musk’scontracts through SpaceXhave been slashed , of grade .
But this breach over duty seems to be real , concord to young reportage from theWashington Post . Musk has been buttonhole behind the tantrum for Trump to surmount back his duty plan , but so far it has n’t succeeded . Other billionaires who second Trump with generous donation to his inauguration fund are also reportedly upset that Trump is presently destroying the U.S. economy with ego - sabotage insurance policy . But it does n’t seem like any of that anger is breaking through to the president .
Americans of all political view seem to be skittish about what lies before for the U.S. economy if Trump does n’t back down from his duty scourge . U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greertestifiedto Congress about the tariff on Tuesday , defend them as something that made good sense to bring jobs back to the U.S. “ This is not a trade warfare . Most country have said they ’re not going to revenge , ” Greer insisted when asked by Sen. Tina Smith , a Democrat from Minnesota , about what is very evidently a trade war .
The tariffs have sent stocks lower over the retiring calendar week , but the markets were in positive territory Tuesday as some trader seem to hold out Leslie Townes Hope that Trump will back down . Many people believe Trump ’s tariff ploys are just a negotiating tactic . But even if that were dead on target , the instability and scourge of tariff have created a problem that ’s likely to roil the U.S. economic system for generations . Trump has effectively declared state of war against the entire world , and area are now figuring out ways to route around the U.S. since it ’s now widely see as an unreliable craft better half . Hedge funds are piling up record short wager , harmonize toCNBC , and it ’s generally a bad sign when the big money believes thing are run to get worse .
When the White House was asked about the spat between Musk and Navarro on Tuesday , spokesperson Karoline Leavitt tell CNBC that everything was fine , seeming to believe that world show antics are just all part of the Trump circus .
“ Whatever , ” Leavitt told CNBC ’s Eamon Javers according to apost on X. “ We are the most transparent administration in history expressing our disagreements in public . ”
DOGEDonald TrumpElon MuskPeter NavarroSPACEXTESLA
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