Musk and Navarro feud as Trump's trade war escalates

What happened

As President Donald Trump's trade war enters a new stage with Wednesday's imposition of steep "reciprocal" tariffs on more than 100 countries, two of his top advisers are publicly feuding over trade policy. DOGE chief Elon Musk Tuesday called Trump's top trade adviser Peter Navarro "truly a moron" who is "dumber than a sack of bricks," mocking him as "Peter Retarrdo." Navarro, who is publicly pushing for permanent tariffs to revive U.S. manufacturing, said Musk was less a "car manufacturer" than an "assembler" of foreign parts.

Who said what

The "extraordinary spat" between Musk — the world's wealthiest man and a "relative newcomer to the Trump orbit" — and Navarro, a committed protectionist "so loyal to the president that he went to prison for him," has been "brewing quietly for months," Politico said. It may be "crass" and "juvenile," but their "feud" represents "more substantive divisions" within "MAGA's new, big-tent coalition."

"This isn't exactly Lincoln's team of rivals," but the success of Trump's economic policies depends on Musk's "Silicon Valley MAGA" faction prevailing over Navarro's "Steve Bannon wing of MAGA," The Wall Street Journal said in an editorial. Musk is an "erratic political messenger," but he "isn't a flunky" and Trump would be wise to listen to him on tariffs.

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Trump, who "claims to hold" both advisers "in high regard," has "long allowed, and at times fostered, conflict between his top advisers, but it is unusual for animus between aides to play out so publicly," The New York Times said. Musk's "rare criticism" of Trump's policies comes as he "is estimated to have lost roughly $31 billion" since Trump's April 2 tariff rollout.

What next?

"Boys will be boys," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said of Musk and Navarro. "We will let their public sparring continue." It's "exceptionally clear" that Navarro's "team tariff is winning right now" over "team econ," Ed Mills, a policy analyst at Raymond James, told Semafor.