Top Trump aide Peter Navarro deepened his feud with Elon Musk on Monday, calling him a “car assembler” who is overly reliant on international imports as cracks start to appear in the president’s cabinet.
Speaking to CNBC’s Joe Kernen on Monday, Navarro attempted to downplay the growing rift between him and Musk after the two clashed over Trump’s tariff policy over the weekend
But he couldn’t help but refer to the Tesla CEO as a “car person” who desires “cheap car parts” above all else.
“I’m just about to tell you, look, Elon Musk and his DOGE team is making a contribution to America in terms of waste, fraud, and abuse, and that’s a very good thing for this country and the American people,” said Navarro, Trump’s senior counselor for trade and the architect behind the government’s tariff policy.
“When it comes to tariffs and trade, we all understand in the White House and the American people understand that Elon’s a car manufacturer, but he’s not a car manufacturer. He’s a car assembler in many cases,” he added. “If you go to his Texas plant, a good part of the engines that he gets, which in the EV case is the batteries, come from Japan and come from China. The electronics come from Taiwan.”
“What we want, and the difference is in our thinking and Elon’s on this, is that we want the tires made in Akron. We want the transmissions made. In Indianapolis, we want the engines made in Flint and Saginaw, and we want the cars manufactured here,” Navarro continued.
“Everything’s good with Elon, I promise,” he added.
His words stand in sharp contrast to Musk’s, who attacked Navarro over the weekend and said he “ain’t built s--t” in a post on X as he appeared to distance himself from the White House’s tariff policy.
During an appearance with Italy’s far-right deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, on Saturday, Musk broke with the government’s economic line and said the United States and Europe need to work toward a “zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free-trade zone.”
Musk, CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, has been hit particularly hard by recent changes to the U.S. economy—and his cratering public image. Last month saw Tesla’s sales plunge by 49% in Europe, and its share price has almost halved since December.
“Important to note that Tesla is NOT unscathed here,” Musk wrote on X in response to the trade levies. “The tariff impact on Tesla is still significant.”
Responding to the remarks on Fox News, Navarro said Elon was “great when he’s in his DOGE lane,” but that he is ultimately a car salesman who is “protecting his own interests.”
“It was interesting to hear Elon Musk talk about a zero-tariff zone with Europe. He doesn’t understand that,” Navarro said.
It comes after the DOGE chief blamed Navarro for last week’s disastrous plunge in the stock markets and said his Harvard PhD in economics was “a bad thing, not a good thing,” because it “Results in the ego/brains>>1 problem.”
Navarro said he had not spoken to Musk since their war of words over the weekend but that he would likely see him at the White House on Monday, adding that the personal comment was “no big deal.”
