Top White House trade adviser Peter Navarro claimed on Sunday that billionaire Elon Musk is “simply protecting his own interests” after the Tesla CEO spoke about the administration’s sweeping new tariff policies.
Newsweek reached out to Navarro’s office and Musk via email on Sunday for comment.
Why It Matters
Musk saw around $11 billion shaved off his wealth in the stock market bloodbath that followed President Donald Trump‘s unveiling of tariffs last week, taking his overall losses since the beginning of 2025 to more than $110 billion.
That is according to financial data compiled by Bloomberg, which monitors the wealth of the world’s 500 richest people.
Musk, also the CEO of SpaceX, is a close political ally and major funder of Trump, and has been spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cuts to federal spending.
What To Know
In remarks on Saturday during a video appearance at a congress in Florence for Italy’s right-leaning co-ruling League Party, Musk expressed hope for the Trump administration to ease tariffs against Europe, which faces a 20 percent generic tariff.
“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.
He told League Party leader Matteo Salvini that “if people wish to work in Europe or wish to work in North America, they should be allowed to do so in my view. This has certainly been my advice to the president.”
During a Sunday appearance on Fox News, Navarro pointed out that while Teslas are manufactured in Texas factories, “they get a lot of their content from China, Mexico, Japan and Taiwan and elsewhere,” making the company particularly vulnerable to the administration’s new tariff regime.
“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 guest host Jackie DeAngelis.
Navarro’s comments come after Trump implemented what his administration calls “the largest slate of US tariffs in a century” against virtually all countries. The president announced the tariffs during his “Liberation Day” event last Wednesday.
In response to the imposition of tariffs on European Union (EU) steel and aluminum imports, the European Commission has launched swift countermeasures on U.S. imports. In total, the EU countermeasures could therefore apply to U.S. goods exports worth up to €26 billion ($28,494,700,000), matching the economic scope of the U.S. tariffs.
While Musk has been careful about directly criticizing Trump’s tariff push, which forms the core of the president’s second-term economic agenda, he has previously expressed concerns about tariffs.
“I think you need to be careful with tariffs…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,” Musk said in an interview with Joe Rogan late last year.
Late last month, the billionaire wrote on X about tariffs: “To be clear, this will affect the price of parts in Tesla cars that come from other countries. The cost impact is not trivial.”
In a separate post, he wrote that it’s “important to note that Tesla is NOT unscathed here. The tariff impact on Tesla is still significant.”
Musk, who leads DOGE, is working as a special government employee. However, that status is set to expire by the end of next month, amid speculation about his future role.
What People Are Saying
Elon Musk, in a now deleted X, formerly Twitter, post, wrote about Peter Navarro: “He ain’t built s***.”
Peter Navarro cleared up rumors on Sunday that he was involved in a tense relationship with 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.”
He later added: “The reality here is that institutionally, the international trade system is designed to cheat us. They have systematically higher tariffs on us.”
The White House said last month that the U.S. automobile industry: “Has been undermined by excessive imports threatening America’s domestic industrial base and supply chains.”
Mark Williams, a professor of finance at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, previously told Newsweek: “Should Trump’s tariff war trigger a full-fledged recession, demand for any car, whether a Tesla or a Ford, will fall. A tariff war is a high-stakes gamble that our largest trading partners will acquiesce and accept trade terms that help the U.S. but harm them.”
What Happens Next?
Trump and his allies have said there may be some temporary economic “disruption,” but that tariffs will ultimately benefit the U.S. economy and Americans.
Trading partners have responded in various ways to the newly imposed tariffs, with some announcing reciprocal measures. Others are holding off or attempting to negotiate with the Trump administration to lower the rates.
The president has insisted that markets will “boom” as a result of his trade war. Posting to Truth Social on Saturday, he wrote: “THIS IS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION, AND WE WILL WIN. HANG TOUGH, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
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