Elon Musk ratchets up attacks on Navarro as Tesla shares slump for fourth day
With shares of Tesla plummeting on tariff concerns, CEO Elon Musk is taking to social media to slam top Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro.
Musk, the world's richest person, started going after Navarro over the weekend, posting on X that a "PhD in econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing," a reference to Navarro's degree. Whatever subtlety remained at the beginning of the week has since vanished.
On Tuesday, Musk wrote, "Navarro is truly a moron" in response to the trade advisor's remark that Tesla is more of a "car assembler" than a car 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 the most public spat between members of Trump's inner circle since the president took office in January, and show that the steep tariffs Trump announced Wednesday on more than 180 countries and territories don't have universal approval in the administration.
When asked about the feud in a briefing Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "Look, these are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and on tariffs."
"Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue," she said.