Top White House trade adviser Peter Navarro denied on Sunday the tension between him and another senior Trump advisor, Tech Mogul Elon Musk.
“Early it’s fine with Elon,” Navarro told NBC News, saying “Meet the press,” adding, “I’m called worse.”
Navarro’s comments revealed clear differences within the administration regarding Trump’s tariff plans days after an interview with CNBC when he was asked about the stated support of Musk to reduce trade barriers.
“We all know that in the White House, Americans, Elon is an automaker,” Navarro said in an interview. “But he’s not an automaker. He’s often a car gatherer.”
White House trade advisers continued to explain that Musk would import car parts Tesla makes from Japan, China and Taiwan.
“The difference is that we want our thoughts and this about Elon, we want them to make tires in Akron,” Navarro added. “We want a transmission made in Indianapolis. We want an engine made of flint and saginaw, and we want a car made here.”
In a CNBC interview on Monday, Musk urged him to criticize Navarro in a series of X’s posts. The masks were first called “silly,” and Tesla added, “the most common are American cars. Navarro is more stupid than brick bags.” He followed in a sarcastic apology, saying the comparison was “very unfair to Bricks.”
On Sunday, Navarro laughed at the report of tension between the two men and told moderator Kristen Welker “Meet the Press” that “Eron and I agree. That’s not a problem.”
He also praised Musk’s work with the so-called Office of Government Efficiency, an initiative that led the Trump administration’s efforts to fire thousands of federal workers as part of a broader goal of targeting “vain, fraud and abuse.”
“Eron does a very good job with his team in waste, fraud and abuse,” Navarro said. “It’s a huge contribution to America.”
After Trump released details of his tariffs in early April, Musk broke with the administration, and last weekend he said he wanted to see a “zero tariff situation” between the US and Europe.
Then on Wednesday, Trump temporarily delayed most of the mutual tariffs he plans to maintain a 10% obligation on most countries’ goods for 90 days, while the administration is working to reach an agreement with trading partners.
Navarro on Sunday defended Trump’s original decision to issue a steep hike on tariffs, defending the president’s limited reversal this week, saying temporary cuts gave way to negotiations with other countries.
“It’s a dominant scenario and it unfolds completely like we thought it would,” he said. “There are 90 deals here in 90 days, which was the standard for the course.