Hey everyone, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
I'm thrilled to share some exciting news with you over the
next two weeks. We're evolving.
We'll be broadening our focus to cover all the tech Titans
shaping our world. And with that, our show will
become Stage 0. You'll still get the latest
insights on Elon Musk, plus so much more.
So stay tuned for our official relaunch at stage 0 coming soon.
Now let's get into this episode. Peter Navarro says there's no
bad blood. That's his story, even after
Elon Musk called him a moron and said he was Dumber than a sack
of bricks. So the obvious question, how do
2 top Trump world figures go from public name calling to
pretending everything is just fine?
Appearing on Meet the Press, Navarro shrugged off the insult.
He said Elon and I are great. He laughed about it.
He said I've been called worse. Despite the viral shots that
Elon Musk took at him last week, Navarro insisted there's no rift
between the two, even going as far as praising Elon for his
work with the Trump administration's doge.
It's controversial, of course, and it's slashing federal jobs.
And that's where Elon Musk and Navarro are similar.
They like this. Now their apparent disagreement
started over tariffs. Musk, who called for a zero
tariff situation between the US and Europe, finds himself at
odds with Trump's trade agenda. Navarro defending steep tariffs
as a negotiation tactic. He does not side with Elon Musk
on this. He wants heavier imports from
China, Japan and Taiwan. And Navarro's words on CNBC last
week were blunt. He said Elon may be seen as an
automaker, but in the administration's eyes, he's more
of an auto assembler now. The administration, Navarro
said, wants the entire supply chain, from tires in Akron to
engines in Flint, to be American.
That framing didn't sit well with Musk, who fired back on X,
calling Navarro a moron and saying Tesla builds the most
American made cars of any brand. Musk didn't stop there.
He sarcastically apologized not to Navarro but to bricks, saying
the comparison was unfair to them.
Still, on Sunday, Navarro kept the peace.
Publicly, he praised Musk's efforts in rooting out waste,
fraud and abuse through the government efficiency program,
an effort that's helped facilitate the layoff of
thousands of federal workers. Now that's a central part of
Trump's push to shrink the federal bureaucracy.
Now. The drawn between Musk and
Navarro unfolded as the Trump administration temporarily eased
some of its proposed tariffs last week after opposing
sweeping new trade barriers. In early April, Trump announced
a 90 day pause on many of the duties, a move Navarro described
as strategic. He claimed it had opened the
door to active negotiations with nearly 90 countries.
And press for details. On which countries are in talks,
Navarro didn't give a full list, but he did name the UK, European
Union, India, Japan, South Korea and Israel as being a
discussion. Notably missing, though, is
China. Instead, Navarro accused China
of more than trade manipulation. He blamed the country for the
spread of fentanyl and the hollowing out of US
manufacturing. Asked whether talks with Beijing
around going, he replied that the US had extended an
invitation but gave no indication of progress.
Meanwhile, the administration has moved to exempt certain
consumer electronics, such as smartphones and laptops, from
the new tariffs for now. And Navarro argued these
exemptions were tied to the complexity of the microchip
supply chain, not any softening of trade policy.
He said. You don't buy chips in bags,
they come inside products. Now.
That made targeting tariffs harder to apply, prompting the
Commerce Department to begin investigating the chip supply
chain directly. Commerce Secretary Howard
Leitnick expanded on that on this week.
He confirmed that a new wave of semiconductor focused tariffs is
coming in the next month or two. And those duties, Leitnick said,
we'll aim to bring the chip manufacturing process back to
the US, despite current exemptions on products like
smartphones. In other words, the electronics
that just got a temporary break from tariffs, OK, they'll likely
be hit again soon, just under a different label.
And despite public disagreements on trade, Navarro insists the
administration is unified. The tariffs, he claims, are
functioning exactly as intended, forcing countries to the
negotiating table. His description of the
president's temporary pause on duties wasn't just strategic.
He called it a birdie, the golf metaphor suggesting it was
better than expected. And Navarro's message on Sunday
was consistent. Tariffs are a tool, not the end
game. The administration is betting
that applying pressure, then offering temporary relief will
lead to better deals for American workers and
manufacturers in the future. And As for the Musk feud,
Navarro made it clear he's not interested in escalating
whatever Musk says online. Navarro's staying on message
trade policy, not personal drama, is the priority, at least
for now. And Peter Navarro dismissed any
feud with Elon Musk as as just a rift after being publicly
insulted, being called Dumber than a bag of bricks.
But he maintained alignment with the administration's trade
policy. It said recent tariff shifts are
part of a calculated negotiation effort.
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Stage zero and please take care of yourselves and each other and
I'll see you tomorrow.