Elon Musk’s frustrations with regard to the White House trade policy became public on Saturday when he called for a large free trade area – and targeted his colleague adviser to the White House, Peter Navarro, on the new pricing plans of Donald Trump.
Musk, who remained largely outside the growing debate on Trump’s decision to go all on the prices, responded early Saturday morning to an X user position praising Navarro, a long-standing Trump assistant and a key architect of the president’s tariff announcement. Tesla’s co-founder argued that “a doctorate in Harvard Econ is a bad thing, not a good thing”, adding that Navarro had not “built shit”.
The public disagreement highlighted a deeper division among Trump’s coalition between its Maga base and the commercial and technological leaders who have rallied to the president. Some in the administration have minimized Musk’s remarks, an official noting that Musk made negative comments on others in the administration in the past and that everyone has “their opinion” on the questions. Navarro did not respond to a request for comments.
“Some choose to make it public, some choose not to do so,” said the official. “I do not think that this white house can in particular be defined by a kind of traditional rules. We have people with strong opinions. Sometimes they publish it, sometimes they don’t. In the end, everyone is in the same team. ”
But others within the administration and near Trump seemed confused and surprised by Musk’s decision to go publicly after Navarro (and by extension, indicates his dissatisfaction with the president’s decision).
“This is a battle that Elon will not win,” said a person close to Trump. “No one is tired of Peter.”
