Elon Musk has launched an astonishing new salvo in his explosive war of words with President Donald Trump‘s tariff chief Peter Navarro.
The Tesla and SpaceX billionaire hasn’t been shy about sharing his opposition to the president’s sweeping international tariffs, which went into effect overnight.
They have been spearheaded by Navarro, Trump’s senior adviser for trade and manufacturing.
Over the last few days, Musk and Navarro have shared some choice words with each other over their starkly different views on how to handle global trade.
In the latest outburst Musk boosted comments from a conservative CNN pundit who is on his side of the fight, and suggested his business savvy should be taken more seriously than Navarro’s.
Scott Jennings, once an adviser to President George W. Bush and Sen. Mitch McConnell, had only glowing things to say about Musk and claimed Navarro was asking for his wrath after he attacked the Tesla car brand.
‘I just think the relentless attacks on him – both from inside the people who support the president and outside – have frankly been unfair,’ Jennings said during a segment on CNN.
‘I think he’s a patriotic American, I think he’s given up his time and his treasure and his trouble to elect someone and try to make him successful,’ he added.
Elon Musk isn’t backing off his rhetoric against President Donald Trump’s tariff architect and economic advisor Peter Navarro
Musk continued his public spat on Wednesday by highlighting CNN pundit Scott Jennings’s comments defending his Tesla electric vehicle company as the ‘most American made’ car
Along with posting the clip to X, Jennings added the caption: ‘[Elon Musk] is a patriotic American who happens to make THE most American car – Tesla. Attacks on Tesla were wrong and Elon’s presence in the campaign and Trump WH have been unquestionably a net positive.’
Musk replied to the post with three American Flag emojis.
The extraordinary row between the two top MAGA advisers began when Navarro described Musk as a ‘car assembler,’ and claimed his Tesla electric vehicles required parts manufactured in foreign countries including China, Japan, and Taiwan – all recipients of Trump’s latest tariffs.
‘When it comes to tariffs and trade, we all understand in the White House – and the American people understand – that Elon is a car manufacturer, but he’s not a car manufacturer. He’s a car assembler,’ Navarro said.
The X owner responded angrily on his social media platform on Tuesday, claiming: ‘Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks.’
‘Navarro is truly a moron,’ he continued. ‘What he says here is demonstrably false.’
He dubbed the trade adviser ‘Peter Retarrdo.’
The White House has dismissed the public feud as just more transparency from the Trump administration and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt brushed it off with: ‘Boys will be boys.’
Musk is the world’s richest man, and he personally lost billions in the market’s reaction to the tariffs last week and this week, which saw the U.S. stock market experience its worst trading week in five years.
Billionaire chief executive of Tesla Elon Musk savaged President Donald Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro after he criticized the DOGE advisor’s car company. Pictured (left): Peter Navarro, Stephen Miller and Elon Musk speaking inside the Oval Office of the White House in March. Pictured (right): Trump and Musk in the Oval Office on March 14
When Navarro insisted the tariffs would eventually pay off, Musk took to his X platform to mock the economic advisor.
The Tesla boss responded to a post noting Navarro’s education credentials, to which he said: ‘ A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing. Results in the ego/brains>>1 problem.’
A user responded to say that Navarro was ‘correct’, but Musk remarked: ‘He ain’t built s***.’
Navarro has dismissed Musk’s concerns about Trump’s widespread and sweeping tariffs, noting it was understandable as coming from a ‘car person’.
‘He’s a car person. That’s what he does, and he wants the cheap foreign parts,’ he said.
Musk replied to that with: ‘By any definition whatsoever, Tesla is the most vertically integrated auto manufacturer in America with the highest percentage of US content.’
Jennings, during a roundtable on CNN’s The Arena with Kasie Hunt, lauded how Teslas are ‘the most American made car.’
‘It’s one of the great American automotive manufacturing success stories,’ Jennings noted.
Elon Musk and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles walk to Air Force One. A source told DailyMail.com that Musk has rubbed Wiles the wrong way and treated her like a ‘secretary’
Musk’s war with Navarro isn’t the first time he’s rubbed Trump’s top aides the wrong way.
One source told DailyMail.com that Musk treated Chief of Staff Susie Wiles like a ‘secretary.’
Nicknamed the ‘Ice Maiden’ for her cool, unflustered demeanor, Wiles earned accolades for bringing order to the Trump chaos during the 2024 presidential campaign.
Her attempts to do the same in D.C., however, are reportedly undercut by Musk, who is liberal with use of his massive platform on X to make announcements and throw firebombs that might not line up with White House strategy.
President Trump has made it clear to Musk, according to several reports, that he is a member of the staff under the charge of Wiles. But Musk definitely isn’t used to not being the boss.
And it emerged last week that Musk is halfway out the door and preparing to leave his role within the administration.
The White House has denied these reports.
