Billionaire White House advisor Elon Musk is escalating his spat with Trump's trade advisor Peter Navarro, who's widely credited for architecting the president's disastrous tariff war.
In a series of tweets, Musk cussed him out for being "truly a moron" and "dumber than a sack of bricks," after Navarro told CNBC that Tesla was "not a car manufacturer" but a "car assembler" that relies on parts from China and Taiwan.
"What he says here is demonstrably false," Musk said, arguing in a followup that "Tesla has the most American-made cars."
"By any definition whatsoever, Tesla is the most vertically integrated auto manufacturer in America with the highest percentage of US content," Musk seethed.
"Peter Retarrdo," Musk tweeted, a pun based on a slur against the intellectually disabled that the entrepreneur has grown increasingly fond of.
The escalation highlights growing tensions between Musk and Trump amid the White House's tariff war, which has caused global markets to plummet — and may well drag Musk's businesses down with it.
The tariffs could hit Tesla, whose brand has already suffered greatly due to Musk's controversial behavior, where it hurts. And it's clearly starting to test the CEO's relationship with the president.
Over the weekend, Musk started to break rank, accusing Navarro of having an inflated ego because of being Harvard-educated.
Since then, the Washington Post reported that Musk had personally implored Trump to reconsider the tariffs.
The mercurial CEO also told attendees at a meeting with Italian right-wing populist political party Lega on Saturday that he'd like to see more free trade — effectively the polar opposite of what Trump has been advocating for.
"I hope it is agreed that both Europe and the United States should move, ideally, in my view, to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America," he said.
"That's what I hope occurs, and also more freedom of people to move between Europe and North America if they wish, if they wish to work in Europe or wish to work in America, they should be allowed to do so, in my view," Musk added.
But considering Trump has since doubled down on his tariff war, threatening China with an additional 50 percent tariff on Monday, Musk's pleas have seemingly fallen on deaf ears.
Instead of picking a public fight with the president directly, Musk has aimed his sights at Navarro instead, in what feels like a proxy target.
The stakes are substantial, even for the richest man in the world. Late last year, Musk sat down for an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan in which he directly addressed the issue.
"I think you need to be careful with tariffs," Musk told Rogan. "I deal a lot with supply chain issues — like, the global automotive supply chain for Tesla is incredibly complex. So when there are sudden changes in tariffs... it messes everything up, you know?"
"You want to have tariffs be predictable," the Tesla CEO said at the time. "I think companies are more than happy to increase manufacturing in America, it’s just that you can’t do it instantly."
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