'Very bad thing for the future': Elon Musk and Trump break on this key issue

Billionaire U.S. contractor Elon Musk and President Donald Trump appear to be in a disagreement over tariffs, signaling what may be the most significant break in the relationship between the two men since the 2024 presidential campaign. The Washington Post reports Musk made personal appeals to Trump to back off upsetting world markets. He also spent the weekend futilely lobbing attacks at White House advisers gunning for punishment to international trade partners.

The Post reports two anonymous sources familiar with the matter say Musk urged the president away from the tariff precipice, but apparently to no avail. Trump escalated fights between the U.S. and China this week after China responded to Trump’s initial tariff last week. Trump pledged to levy 50% tariffs on imports from China in addition to a 34% import tax he announced last week.

Musk opposed tariffs in Trump’s first term. His electric vehicle company, Tesla, even went so far as to file suit against the Trump administration to end a tax on Tesla’s parts imported from China. Trump, meanwhile, has supported tariffs since the 1980s, and he has yet to update his opinion after nearly 40 years.

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While allegedly advocating for moderation, Musk posted a video to X lauding conservative economist Milton Friedman’s support for international trade cooperation. In that video, Friedman explained the trade intricacies involved in the manufacture of a lone pencil. Musk also lit into Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro, who is bullish on tariffs, criticizing him for his Harvard Economics degree. He also replied on his social platform X that, “He ain’t built s--t."

Navarro, in turn, described Musk as a car person, not a politician or economist.

“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," importing countless Tesla parts from Japan, China and Taiwan, Navarro responded. "He's a car person. That's what he does, and he wants the cheap foreign parts."

"Tesla has essentially become a political symbol globally … and that is a very bad thing for the future of this disruptive tech stalwart and the brand crisis tornado that has now turned into an F5 tornado," wrote Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives.

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