Given that Tesla is not immune to tariffs, tensions were brewing.
It’s far from plain sailing in Trump’s White House as splits and divisions begin to emerge over the President’s approach to tariffs that have upended global trade.
President Trump is pushing ahead with his plans to impose tariffs, including a 10% “baseline” tariff on all imports into the US and a 25% tariff on car imports. The UK has been hit with a 10% baseline tariff.
60 countries will be hit with higher rates of up to 50%, including Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bangladesh. Countries in the European Union face a 20% tariff.
Billionaire Tesla founder Musk has diverged with Trump on tariffs, posting videos about free trade and saying at an Italian event he believes there should be zero tariffs between the US and Europe. The Washington Post reported Monday that Musk also made a “direct appeal” to Trump. Given that Tesla is not immune to tariffs, tensions were brewing.
Musk has now slammed Peter Navarro, the president’s senior counsellor for trade, describing him as “dumber than a sack of bricks.”
He made the comments after Navarro accused the billionaire of running a “car assembler” rather than a manufacturer.
Navarro told CNBC: “In many cases, if you go to his Texas plant, a good part of the engines that he gets – which in the EV case are the batteries – come from Japan and come from China. The electronics come from Taiwan.
“What we want – and the difference is in our thinking and Elon’s on this – is that we want the tyres made in Akron. We want the transmissions made in Indianapolis. We want the engines made in Flint and Saginaw. And we want the cars manufactured here.”
Musk responded to Navarro on X, calling him a “moron” and in one post simply calling him “Peter Retarrdo.”
“Tesla has the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks,” Musk wrote.”
Looks like Trump has failed in his mission to avoid the divisions that marred his first term from reoccurring during his return to the White House.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
Left Foot Forward doesn’t have the backing of big business or billionaires. We rely on the kind and generous support of ordinary people like you.
You can support hard-hitting journalism that holds the right to account, provides a forum for debate among progressives, and covers the stories the rest of the media ignore. Donate today.
