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There might be trouble in paradise for President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, one of the president’s most visible and influential advisers.
Musk, in recent days, has heavily criticized the Trump administration’s universal and reciprocal tariff plan and has appealed to the president to walk back the levied duties. Two sources told the Washington Post that Musk personally made an attempted tariff-related appeal to Trump — but has been unsuccessful in changing the president’s mind thus far.
This is the highest-profile disagreement between the president and the Tesla (TSLA-0.96%) CEO, who poured almost $290 million into electing Trump and other Republicans in the 2024 election cycle and who leads the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The president’s tariffs have created a trade war and have separated the U.S. from the rest of the global economy almost overnight. Trump’s plan imposes a 10% tariff on all countries and foists higher individual reciprocal tariffs on countries with which the U.S. has the largest trade deficits. The universal tariff went into effect on Saturday, while the reciprocal tariff will be implemented on April 9.
On Monday, Musk posted a video of economist Milton Friedman touting and explaining free trade policies. And over the weekend, via video at a political rally with right-wing Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, the businessman said he’d like to see a “free trade zone” between the EU and the U.S. — moving, as Musk said, “ideally, in my view, to a zero-tariff situation.” He added, “That has certainly been my advice to the president.”
Trump’s policies slapped a 20% tariff on all European imports.
Musk also criticized Trump’s top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, who is believed to be largely responsible for the tariff policies, on his social media site X (formerly Twitter). The Tesla CEO wrote that a PhD in economics from Harvard, which Navarro has, “is a bad thing, not a good thing.” And in a since-deleted post, the Tesla CEO wrote of the administration’s trade adviser, “He ain’t built sh–.”
Navarro then went on CNBC (CMCSA+0.39%) and Fox News (FOXA-1.11%) to hit back at Musk, calling him a “car assembler” and “car person,” suggesting the billionaire is upset with these plans because his company uses parts from countries that will be hit hard by the tariffs, including Mexico, China, Japan, and Taiwan.
“The President has put together a remarkable team of highly talented and experienced individuals who bring different ideas to the table, knowing that President Trump is the ultimate decision maker,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “When he makes a decision everyone rows in the same direction to execute. That’s why this Administration has done more in two months than the previous Admin did in four years.”
Tesla’s stock continues to be hit hard by news of Trump’s tariffs. The car manufacturer’s stock closed at $233.29 per share Monday, down more than 2.5%. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk has lost almost $3 billion since Trump’s tariff announcement. Tesla has already been seeing decreased demand, due largely to Musk’s foray into politics. The stock has lost more than 38% of its value this year.
This isn’t the first time Musk has disagreed with Trump, but it’s the biggest schism between the two figures. The Tesla CEO has previously disagreed with the Trump administration on issues related to H1-B visas for “skilled” immigrants, DOGE’s approach to cutting government spending, and a $500 billion venture that involved OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to build data centers in the U.S.
Musk also seemingly opposed tariffs in Trump’s first term. In 2020, Tesla filed a lawsuit over the administration’s tariffs on China. But Musk walked the suit back because, according to the Washington Post, right-wing accounts on what was then Twitter said he was going against Trump’s “America First” agenda by trying to get on the Chinese government’s good side.
Other top U.S. business leaders have come out against Trump’s tariffs. One group created a coalition that will lobby members of the current administration for more moderate trade policies, according to the New York Times. Billionaire hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman called for a 90-day tariff pause so the U.S. could negotiate details with other countries, saying the alternative was a “self-induced, economic nuclear winter.” And JPMorgan Chase (JPM+4.84%) Jamie Dimon sounded the alarm on Trump’s tariffs in his annual letter to shareholders.