Elon Musk Splits From Trump Over Tariffs, Openly Torches His Top Officials: ‘Ain’t Built Sh*t’
Elon Musk has distanced himself from President Donald Trump on the ongoing trade war and tariffs regime, torching the administration’s ranking trade officials as they defended the policy that has tanked markets.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, whose net worth has taken a $30 billion beating since Donald Trump’s tariffs rocked global markets, is clearly not on board with the president’s economic strategy.
As the administration scrambles to defend its latest round of duties, including a 10 percent tariff on a pair of uninhabited islands near Antarctica, Musk made clear he had a different vision.
During a streamed call to a conference hosted by Italy’s right-wing League party in Florence on Saturday, Musk said his “advice” to Trump had been eliminating trade barriers with Europe.
“Ideally, both Europe and the United States should move to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America,” he said. “If people wish to work in Europe or wish to work in North America, they should be allowed to do so in my view.”
Throughout the weekend, however, Musk targeted his ire at Trump administration officials making media appearances and backing the new tariffs.
During a CBS Face the Nation appearance on Sunday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick justified the move to tax goods from the penguin-inhabited Heard and McDonald Islands, saying: “If you leave anything off the list, countries that try to arbitrage America try to go through those countries to get to us.”
Musk’s replied on on X: “This is funny.”
The X owner also lobbed grenades at Trump trade architect Peter Navarro after he downplayed recession fears, mocking his Harvard economics credentials as a liability: “A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing.”
“He aint built shit,” Musk added in a further post.
Musk, once tapped to lead Trump’s federal shake-up plans at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has faced protests across the country with Tesla dealerships and cars vandalized.
More on Trump Tariffs
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- Joe Kernen Brutally Roasts Trump Adviser Over Tariff Policy Amid Global Financial Panic: ‘Universally Derided’ as ‘Non-Serious’
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- ‘Black Monday!’ CNBC’s Jim Cramer Says Trump-Fueled Stock Market Plunge Could Be ‘The Big Kahuna!’
- Maria Bartiromo ‘Would Not Be Surprised’ If Market Turns Around TODAY as World Fears ‘Black Monday’
