Elon Musk brands Trump's top tariff guru 'dumber than a sack of bricks' as cracks form in White House alliance
8 April 2025, 17:21 | Updated: 9 April 2025, 16:06
Elon Musk has branded one of Donald Trump’s top tariff advisers a “moron” as the rift between the president and his billionaire ally deepens.
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The Tesla founder, who recently hit out at Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on countries across the globe, slammed Peter Navarro, the president’s senior counsellor for trade, describing him as “dumber than a sack of bricks.”
It comes after Mr Navarro accused the billionaire of running a “car assembler” rather than a manufacturer.
Musk rejected accusations of being against tariffs because he wants to use “cheap foreign parts”, describing them as “demonstrably false”, and declaring Tesla “has the most American-made cars.”
It comes as global stock markets continue to plummet in the wake of Donald Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on almost every country on earth.
By any definition whatsoever, Tesla is the most vertically integrated auto manufacturer in America with the highest percentage of US content.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 8, 2025
Navarro should ask the fake expert he invented, Ron Vara.
The next stage of Mr Trump's tariff programme comes into force in the early hours of Wednesday, with import taxes at 20% for goods from European Union nations and 24% from Japan.
The UK government is pushing for a deal with the White House in the hope of easing the 10% tariff on US imports of British goods, along with a 25% tariff on cars and separate import taxes for steel and aluminium.
Hitting out at Musk, Mr 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.”
He added: “We want them home for our national security.”
A furious Elon Musk then took to Twitter, branding Mr Navarro 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 fumed.
“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 has reportedly called on Trump to reverse his tariffs and, in a recent interview, said there should be “free trade” between the United States and Europe.
It comes as Trump called on Americans not to panic as stock markets continue to crash worldwide.
He warned Americans not be be 'a Panican' - the US President's newly coined terminology referring to “a new party based on weak and stupid people” - an apparent reference to those panicking within the Republican Party.