Elon Musk on Tuesday called President Donald Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro a "moron" and "dumber than a sack of bricks."
Musk, who disagrees with Trump's imposition of tariffs, appeared to take a swipe at Navarro with an online post on Saturday. Navarro then responded during a Monday CNBC interview by saying the Tesla CEO is "not a car manufacturer, he's a car assembler in many cases."
"Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false," Musk wrote Tuesday on X while commenting on a post showing Navarro's CNBC interview.
Musk added other comments that included:
- "Tesla has the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks."
- "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."
- "*Peter Retarrdo"
On Saturday, Musk wrote: "A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing. Results in the ego/brains>>1 problem."
Navarro responded by downplaying Musk's remarks.
"I'll probably see him today in the Oval — it's no big deal," Navarro told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday morning. "He is not a car manufacturer, he's a car assembler in many cases."
Navarro also praised Musk's work as head of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency.
"Elon, when he's in his DOGE lane is great, but we understand what's going on here. Elon sells cars. He's simply protecting his own interests," Navarro told Fox News Channel on Sunday.
Also Monday, Musk expressed his objection to Trump's tariffs by posting on X a video of late libertarian economist Milton Friedman explaining how the global supply chain worked to produce a simple pencil.
"There's not a single person in the world who could make this pencil," Friedman began in the video. "Remarkable statement? Not at all. The wood from which it's made, for all I know, comes from a tree that was cut down in the state of Washington. To cut down that tree, it took a saw. To make the saw, it took steel; to make the steel, it took iron ore."
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.