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Elon Musk’s frustrations with White House trade policy became public Saturday when he called for a vast free trade zone — and took aim at fellow White House advisor Peter Navarro over Donald Trump’s new tariffs plans.
Musk, who has largely stayed out of the growing debate over Trump’s decision to go all-in on tariffs, responded early Saturday morning to a post from an X user praising Navarro, a longtime Trump aide and key architect of the president’s tariff announcement. The Tesla co-founder argued that “A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing,” adding that Navarro hadn’t “built shit.”
The public disagreement cast a light on a deeper division among Trump’s coalition between his MAGA base and the business and tech leaders who have rallied around the president. Some in the administration downplayed Musk’s remarks, with one official noting that Musk has made negative comments about others in the administration in the past and that everyone has “their opinion” on matters. Navarro did not respond to a request for comment.
“Some choose to make it public, some choose to not,” this official said. “I don’t think this White House especially can be defined by sort of the traditional rules. We have people with strong opinions. Sometimes they publicize it, sometimes they don’t. At the end of the day, everybody’s on the same team.”
But others inside the administration and close to Trump appeared confused, and surprised, about Musk’s decision to publicly go after Navarro (and by extension, indicate his displeasure with the president’s decision).
“That’s a battle Elon won’t win,” a person close to Trump warned. “Nobody is tired of Peter.”
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Musk has undoubtedly ruffled some feathers throughout his time in Trump’s orbit, even going back to the months before Trump officially took office. More recently, he’s gotten into tiffs with cabinet secretaries over his efforts at the Department of Government Efficiency, and questions have swirled over when he (as a special government employee) will officially need to depart.
But despite Musk’s detractors, Trump himself remains happy with the billionaire and his efforts to drastically reshape the federal government.
Later Saturday, appearing virtually at an Italian political event, Musk expanded on his personal thoughts about tariffs, saying he hoped Europe and the U.S. would move “to a zero tariff situation. Musk said this would effectively create a “free trade zone between” the regions that would also allow for more freedom to move between them. Musk added that he has given this advice to Trump.
Shelby’s view
In conversations with those close to Trump and inside the administration, one thing is clear: Whether the subject is tariffs or immigration or executive orders, Donald Trump is calling the shots this time around. His aides often talk about how this version of Trump is unleashed and more confident, without the constraints of advisors who push him to restrict his agenda.
“At the end of the day, Trump is the ultimate decision maker,” the official noted. “Yeah, he’s going to take input from a lot of different people, a lot of different opinions. But at the end of the day — just look at his Truth post’s from the last 48 hours. It’s pretty clear, he’s not going to back off [on tariffs].”
And yet, it’s still notable that Musk’s criticism hasn’t (yet) prompted more backlash, like it might have if this were the first Trump administration. There could be a mix of reasons for that: While Musk has never been someone the White House has entirely been able to control, Trump likes him enough not to care. And, when it comes to tariffs, Musk’s opinion might simply hold less sway: It’s clear Trump leaned on Navarro, who has long been a proponent of aggressive tariffs, more than Musk for the high-stakes attempt to reshape the global economic system.
Room for Disagreement
Navarro has long been an unorthodox and divisive figure: “Navarro is both the dumbest economist in America, and the most influential,” the commentator Noah Smith wrote last week.
Notable
- Navarro laid out the Administration’s priorities last year in a jailhouse interview — he served four months for refusing to cooperate with the January 6 investigation — with Semafor: “If countries refuse to lower their tariffs to our levels, the president would have the authority to raise our tariffs to theirs. It is the most common sense route to balancing our trade deficit and thereby stimulating economic growth, and strengthening the US dollar.”
- The Daily featured Navarro last month.
- Navarro began his political career as an unsuccessful Democratic politician in San Diego in the 1990s.