Elon Musk spent the weekend pushing for a “zero-tariff situation,” while his favorite president causes widespread economic uncertainty and dread while doing the exact opposite.
“I’m hopeful, for example, with the tariffs, that at the end of the day I hope it is 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 on a video call on Saturday. “That’s what I hope occurs. And also, more freedom of people to move between Europe and North America if they wish to work in Europe, if they wish to work in America, they should be allowed to do so in my view. So that has certainly been my advice to the president.”
Musk also posted a clip of conservative economist Milton Friedman explaining the many steps that go into making a simple pencil—wood, graphite, steel—describing the global import and export market as a “magic of the price system.”
“That is why the operation of the free market is so essential,” Friedman continued in the clip. “Not only to promote productive efficiency, but even more. To foster harmony and peace among the peoples of the world.”
“Free-trade zones” and economic peace and harmony are perhaps the lowest current priority for the Trump administration. His unprecedented trade war has caused the stock market to plummet, will surely cause prices on goods everywhere to skyrocket, and has made the United States a common economic enemy of the world, uniting countries with centuries of beef against us. This is not what the world’s richest man signed up for, and Musk’s subtweets suggest that there is disharmony between himself and the president. Combine this with the fact that Musk has lost $52 billion just this year and the rumors of him stepping away—which the administration vehemently denies—and it becomes plain to see that all is not right between Musk and Trump. The honeymoon is officially over.
The post Elon Musk Suddenly Distances Himself From Trump Over Tariffs appeared first on New Republic.
