Elon Musk Trump’s tariffs: Elon Musk, who lost $30 billion for the first time since November 2024, “angry” at Trump?
According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Musk managed to maintain his position as the world’s wealthiest person with a net worth of $330 billion in March 2025. The tariffs imposed by Trump have sparked criticism and attention from economists.
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Musk loses billions of dollars and is “angry” at Trump
The tech tycoon has released a free trade video that includes economist Milton Friedman, just as Donald Trump announced high tariffs on major U.S. trading partners. Elon Musk’s call for the “zero tariff zone” to clash with Europe’s direct trade protectionist stance with Trump, has sparked sharp criticism from White House adviser Peter Navarro.
Peter Navarro accused Musk of prioritizing Tesla’s profits, which attracted Musk’s ridicule. The exchange has sparked speculation about growing tensions between Trump and Musk, some of which even suggest Musk might be out of influential policy discussions.
Musk slams President Trump’s tariff announcement that scares global markets. But Elon Musk and Peter Navarro appear to be on another page after the president declared reciprocity tariffs. Navarro is Trump Ally’s long-term trade and manufacturing adviser, but supports Trump’s tariff relocation. Elon recommends the use of a “zero tariff zone”. Peter Navarro is seen as one of the top advocates of the comprehensive tariffs announced by President Trump last week, which will put a lot of responsibilities on most large U.S. trading partners. “The market will soon find the bottom. This will soon get very fast, from there, we will have a bullish boom, and during Trump, the road will hit 50,000 during Trump.” As of Monday, Dow Jones Jones was 38,314 before the trade began.Also Read: Is Warren Buffett’s decision to sit on a $30 billion cash pile paying off because the 500 richest Moguls lost half a trillion?
Elon agreed with a quote from Thomas Sowell, who quickly summoned Peter Navarro, who read: “In the whole of American history, there seems to be always a man from Harvard.” This is a drama by Navarro, who holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard. ” (So original text)
Elon Musk vs Peter Navarro
Peter Navarro answered Elon Musk’s speech in an interview with Fox News. “Elon was great when he was in his Doge Lane, but we know what was going on here,” Navarro said, “Elon sells cars. He’s just protecting his own interests.”
Navarro added that Musk’s Tesla supply chain will obviously be hit hard by the tariff regime. He noted that although Tesla was made at its factory in Texas, “they got a lot of content from China, Mexico, Japan and Taiwan and elsewhere.”
However, he tried to downplay any beef between him and Musk. “There is no crack here. Look, Elon, he has X, he has a big microphone. We don’t mind what he says he wants. But, just, Americans need to understand what we understand, what this is, which is good,” Navarro continued, “Navarro continued,” and Musk went on to show that Musk further implies that Musk is protecting his personal interests.
As mentioned earlier, Elon Musk recently criticized Peter Navarro for being a strong supporter of strict tariffs. Navarro appeared on CNN after the latest U.S. government tariff announcement, defending the policy and proudly spoke of his Harvard education.
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The clip of the interview was posted on X, prompting Musk to respond by mocking Navarro’s academic background. “A doctorate in Econ at Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing,” Musk wrote. It leads to “self/brain>> 1 problem”. When another user quotes economist Thomas Sowell (“In every disaster in American history, there seems to be always a man from Harvard,” Musk simply replied, “Yes.”
Musk, the richest man in the world, is the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and the largest shareholder of both companies – his company has faced setbacks in recent weeks. According to a March 25 report from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, in Europe alone, Tesla’s sales fell 49% in January and February.
Elon Musk’s tariff stance
Last month, Tesla warned the U.S. government that tariffs could harm electric vehicle companies when Trump’s tariff targets impose taxes on U.S. products.
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“When other countries respond to U.S. trade lawsuits, U.S. exporters are inherently disproportionately affected,” Tesla said in an unsigned letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
“Past U.S. trade actions have led to immediate response from target countries, including increasing tariffs on electric vehicles imported to these countries,” the company added. On March 26, Trump imposed a 25% tariff on automobile imports and certain auto parts.
To this end, Musk wrote on X: “It is important to note that Tesla is not unscathed. The impact on Tesla’s tariffs remains very large.”
Musk has been cautiously criticizing Trump’s tariff push, at the heart of the president’s second-term economic agenda. However, he has been criticizing tariffs in the past.
“I think you need to be careful about tariffs,” Musk told Podcast Titan Joe Rogan late last year. “I deal with a lot of supply chain issues, like Tesla’s global automotive supply chain is very complex. So when tariffs suddenly change, it’s messing around.”
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“You want to get tariffs to be predictable so that tariffs can adjust their supply chain,” he added. “I think the company is happy to increase manufacturing in the U.S., it’s just that you can’t do that right away.”
The billionaire Tech Baron has become a close Trump ally and leads the president as part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for wasteful and inflated efforts throughout the administration.
Musk has helped serve as a special government employee, but the status will expire at the end of next month. Trump insists that Musk “can stay as long as he likes the time”, because of speculation that the White House intends to say goodbye after the special status expires.
