Billionaire Elon Musk, a top donor and adviser to President Donald Trump, is escalating his feud with Trump’s pro-tariff trade adviser Peter Navarro.
Musk took to X, the social media platform he owns, to respond to Navarro’s commentary on Tesla’s supposed reliance on foreign components.
“Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false,” Musk wrote in a Tuesday morning post.
“By any definition whatsoever, Tesla is the most vertically integrated auto manufacturer in America with the highest percentage of US content. Navarro should ask the fake expert he invented, Ron Vara,” Musk added, referencing an alter ego that Navarro crated and falsely attributed quotes to in his 2011 book, Death by China.
“Peter Retarrdo,” Musk said in another post replying to X personality Mario Nawfal.
Navarro spoke about Tesla on CNBC Monday and described Musk’s electric car company as a “car assembler” rather than a car manufacturer. Navarro advocated for building American cars with entirely American parts and suggested that Tesla’s components come from China, Japan, and Taiwan.
“The difference is in our thinking and Elon’s on this — is that we want the tires 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,” Navarro said.
His comments came after Musk shared a video of legendary free market economist Milton Friedman using the example of a pencil to make the case for free trade, an apparent criticism of the Trump administration’s tariff policy.
Over the weekend, Musk criticized Navarro’s tariff position by dismissing his qualifications and suggesting he is egotistical. Navarro replied Sunday during an interview with Fox News and argued Musk was protecting his self interest.
While he was publicly feuding with Navarro, Musk was making personal appeals to President Trump to back off his aggressive tariff plan, two people familiar with the conversations told The Washington Post.
U.S. stock market indexes jumped Tuesday morning upon Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s suggestions that the Trump administration is open to negotiating deals with trading partners.
“I think you’re going to see some very large countries with large trade deficits come forward very quickly,” Bessent said.
“If they come to the table with solid proposals, I think we can end up with some good deals.”
Bessent told Fox News Monday that nearly 7o countries have approached the U.S. to negotiate trade deals. The Trump administration is already negotiating with Japan, a longstanding U.S. ally in the Indo-Pacific, and held discussions Monday with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
“Countries from all over the World are talking to us. Tough but fair parameters are being set. Spoke to the Japanese Prime Minister this morning. He is sending a top team to negotiate!” Trump said on Truth Social.
Trump also said Tuesday he had a productive phone call with the acting president of South Korea, another strong U.S. ally in Asia, to discuss trade, energy, and military production. At the same time, Trump dismissed the European Union’s offer to remove industrial tariffs and called for eliminate the U.S. trade deficit with the bloc.
The Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all increased more than 3 percent at the start of trading, a reversal from the recent market downturns caused by President Trump’s sweeping global tariff package announced last week.
Markets dropped at levels not seen since March 2020, the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, last week because of Trump’s suite of tariffs on countries around the world. The indexes saw similar declines to start trading Monday before recovering and ending the day largely unchanged.
Trump’s new tariff plan imposes a 10 percent global minimum tariff or higher tariff rates on specific countries depending on their overall trade deficit. The tariff calculations have received intense criticism because of the formula’s reliance on overall trade deficits instead of looking at tariffs on specific goods. Economists largely dismiss the importance of trade deficits because different nations have varying levels of consumer demand and specialize in producing certain goods.
China already announced last week it is enacting a 34 percent retaliatory tariff to counter Trump’s fresh tariffs on Beijing. Trump responded Monday with a proposal to add 50 percent tariffs to Chinese goods if they do not withdraw their 34 percent levies.
Trump’s tariffs are widely expected to raise prices significantly and hinder economic growth. The president and his advisors believe they are necessary to rebuild American manufacturing and reorient global trade away from unfair arrangements for America.
Commentaires
Enregistrer un commentaire
Thank you to leave a comment on my site