Tesla CEO Elon Musk lashed out at former Trump adviser Peter Navarro over the weekend, marking his first public comments since the president's sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs triggered a $2.5 trillion global market downturn and wiped more than $30 billion from Musk's net worth.
"A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing," Musk posted on X, in response to a clip of Navarro defending the tariffs on CNN. "Results in the ego/brains >>1 problem," he added. In another post, Musk wrote about Navarro, "He ain't built s***."
Navarro, a key architect of Trump's tariff policy and former White House trade adviser, dismissed the comments on Fox News, saying, "Elon sells cars. He's simply protecting his own interests." Navarro added that while Tesla manufactures in the U.S., "they get a lot of their content from China, Mexico, Japan and Taiwan and elsewhere," making the company vulnerable to new import costs.
Tesla reported a 13% drop in first-quarter sales year-over-year, its worst performance since 2022, and the company's shares have fallen 10% since the tariffs were announced. According to Bloomberg data, Musk has lost more than $110 billion in personal wealth since the beginning of the year.
Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a Trump administration initiative aimed at slashing federal operations, has also drawn intense scrutiny. The agency has overseen mass layoffs across federal departments and drawn ire from protestors who accuse Musk of dismantling core government functions. Demonstrators have targeted Tesla showrooms and even vandalized vehicles in response.
In a video appearance at a congress in Florence on Saturday, Musk called for tariff de-escalation, telling League Party leader Matteo Salvini, "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." Musk added, "This has certainly been my advice to the president."
The White House has defended its new trade regime as the boldest in a century. The European Commission has already announced retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports worth up to €26 billion, matching the scope of American duties. Trump has framed the move as a cornerstone of his second-term agenda. "THIS IS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION, AND WE WILL WIN," he wrote Saturday on Truth Social.
Musk, who has long warned of the dangers of abrupt tariff shifts, reiterated concerns about the impact on Tesla's global supply chain. "To be clear, this will affect the price of parts in Tesla cars that come from other countries," he wrote last month. "The cost impact is not trivial."
Musk also responded affirmatively to a quote from economist Thomas Sowell posted by a user on X: "In every disaster throughout American history, there always seems to be a man from Harvard in the middle of it." Musk replied simply, "Yup."
Navarro, who is serving a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress after refusing to testify before the January 6 committee, defended his position, stating, "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."
Speculation continues to swirl over Musk's future in the administration. Though currently serving as a special government employee, his term is expected to expire at the end of next month. Trump has reportedly told confidants that Musk will be stepping back from his White House role, though no formal announcement has been made.
Boston University finance professor Mark Williams warned that the stakes are high. "Should Trump's tariff war trigger a full-fledged recession, demand for any car, whether a Tesla or a Ford, will fall," he said. "A tariff war is a high-stakes gamble."
