Elon Musk Calls Trump Trade Adviser Peter Navarro ‘A Moron’ | EUROtoday

Elon Musk slammed President Donald Trump’s commerce adviser Peter Navarro as “truly a moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks” on Tuesday.

Musk’s insults got here in response to Navarro’s feedback made Monday on CNBC about Tesla’s manufacturing practices, through which Navarro referred to Musk, Tesla’s CEO, as “not a car manufacturer” however “a car assembler” whereas arguing that the automotive firm relies upon closely on overseas provide chains for objects corresponding to batteries.

Now, Musk, who’s overseeing federal spending cuts underneath President Donald Trump, has fired again at Navarro’s claims.

“Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false,” Musk wrote on X Tuesday whereas replying to a social media person who posted a clip of Navarro’s feedback. “Tesla has the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks.”

Musk continued: “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.”

The jab about “Ron Vara” pertains to a fictional economist cited beforehand by Navarro in his 2011 e-book “Death by China.” Navarro claimed that the made-up professional was by no means “improperly” used as a reality supply.

The public spat between Musk and Navarro has taken off because the latter defended Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which set off a world inventory market fiasco and concern amongst customers and politicians as different international locations have threatened to wage a commerce warfare with the United States.

Despite the blowback, Navarro, the senior counselor for commerce and manufacturing to Trump, argued that the tariffs will assist rebuild America’s manufacturing efforts and stop sourcing from abroad.

“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 in many cases,” Navarro instructed CNBC.

He continued, “If you go to his Texas plant, a good part of the engines that he gets, which in the EV case is the batteries, come from Japan and come from China. The electronics come from Taiwan…”

Navarro added: “What we want, and 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.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reacted to Musk’s submit on Tuesday.

“Whatever. We are the most transparent administration in history, expressing our disagreements in public,” she mentioned, in response to CNBC senior Washington correspondent Eamon Javers.

Elsewhere whereas chatting with CNN’s Alayna Treene, Leavitt mentioned that “boys will be boys!” relating to the nasty feud between Musk and Navarro.

“Look, these are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade, and on tariffs,” Leavitt mentioned. “Boys will be boys! And we will let their public sparring continue.”