Musk's Fury Against Trump's 'Trade Advisor'

The feud between the world's richest man and Trump's advisor, Peter Navarro, has been intensifying. On April 8, Eastern Time, Musk reposted an interview clip of Navarro and commented, "Navarro is such a moron. What he said is clearly wrong." Navarro had previously stated that while Musk is involved in making cars, he is not an automobile manufacturer but an assembler.

Against this backdrop, Musk's brother, Kimbal Musk, posted on social platform X on the 8th, urging Trump to fire Navarro. Kimbal criticized Navarro for having "lied" to Trump on X that day. He also called out to Trump, saying, "Please put America first and fire him!"

Some analysts believe that Musk has been continuously "attacking" Navarro because the latter is Trump's "trade advisor." The introduction of the so - called "reciprocal tariffs" in the United States led to a sharp decline in Tesla's stock price, making Musk one of the hardest - hit billionaires.

The White House responded to the intense verbal conflict between the two on April 8, saying that boys will be boys and they will let the two continue to argue.

On April 8, Eastern Time, Musk reposted an interview clip of Peter Navarro and commented, "Navarro is such a moron. What he said is clearly wrong."

Musk also reposted a research report from "Kelley Blue Book," a professional US car evaluation company. The report stated that Tesla's Model Y, Model 3, Model X, and Model S are the four models with the highest "Made in America" content.

Navarro said in an interview with US media on the 7th, "Everyone in the White House knows that while Musk makes cars, he is not an automobile manufacturer - but an assembler." Navarro claimed that many of Tesla's auto parts come from outside the United States. "We want tires to be made in Akron, transmissions in Indianapolis, and engines in Flint and Saginaw."

Musk lashed out, "Tesla has the cars with the highest degree of 'Made in America'. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks."

It is understood that the phrase "dumber than a sack of bricks" is a classic insulting idiom in English, meaning extremely stupid, more useless and less able to think than a sack of immobile bricks.

Musk also said, "By any definition, Tesla is the most vertically integrated automobile manufacturer in the United States with the highest proportion of US - made parts. Navarro should ask Ron Vara, the fake expert he invented." Ron Vara has appeared multiple times in Navarro's works, and Navarro described him as a "Ph.D. student in economics at Harvard University". However, after verification, it was found that Ron Vara actually does not exist and may even be Navarro himself.

Since last week, Musk has been attacking Navarro on social platforms, calling him an arrogant rather than intelligent person and that he "can't do anything well". Musk also pointed out that Navarro's Harvard economics Ph.D. is "a drawback rather than an advantage".

Although Musk contributed a lot to Trump's victory in the election, Navarro is also deeply trusted by Trump and is one of the few people who spanned Trump's two terms. It is worth mentioning that Navarro refused to be summoned by Congress after the "Capitol Hill riot" and was sentenced to four months in prison.

Regarding the feud between Trump's two "right - hand men", White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "We are the most transparent government in history, which allows us to openly express our differences."

On April 8, local time, Leavitt answered reporters' questions at a briefing. "Obviously, these two have very different views on trade and tariffs. Boys will be boys, and we'll let them continue to argue publicly," Leavitt said at the briefing that day.

Some analysts believe that Musk has been continuously "attacking" Navarro because the latter is Trump's "trade advisor". The introduction of the so - called "reciprocal tariffs" in the United States led to a sharp decline in Tesla's stock price, making Musk one of the hardest - hit billionaires.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk's wealth dropped to $298 billion on Monday, falling below $300 billion for the first time since last November. As of Monday, Musk's wealth had accumulated a loss of 31.1%, nearly $135 billion.

The main reason for the sharp decline in Musk's wealth is the sharp drop in Tesla's stock price. At the beginning of trading on Tuesday in the US stock market, Tesla soared more than 7% at one point. However, affected by the news related to "reciprocal tariffs", Tesla's stock price tumbled sharply during the session, falling more than 7% at one point in the late trading and finally closing down 4.9%. The latest stock price has accumulated a decline of more than 54% compared with the high on December 17 last year.

Regarding the outlook for Tesla, Wall Street institutions are becoming more pessimistic. An analyst who has been firmly bullish on Tesla's stock price predicted that due to the influence of the US government's trade policies, Tesla's stock price still has a 43% downside.

According to Bloomberg News, Daniel Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, wrote in a report to clients that "Tesla has actually become a political symbol globally. Tesla CEO Elon Musk should step up and assess the situation at this uncertain moment." Ives has given a "buy" rating to Tesla in the past four years.

Ives lowered Tesla's target stock price from $550 per share to $315 per share. Among the 72 analysts tracked by Bloomberg, $315 ranks second - highest.

Musk previously said that Trump's auto tariff policy will have a "significant" impact on Tesla. Musk said that it will affect the prices of Tesla's auto parts from other countries.

It is worth mentioning that Kimbal, Musk's brother and a member of Tesla's board, also sharply criticized Trump's tariffs on Monday, saying that it was hard to believe that Trump would be the president who implemented the highest - rate tariffs in generations. Just a month ago, Kimbal thanked Trump for hosting a Tesla event on the White House lawn.