Elon Musk has labelled Donald Trump’s trade adviser as a “moron” that is “dumber than a sack of bricks” in an extraordinary exchange on his social media site X.
The world’s richest man began a public row with American economist Peter Navarro after he described Musk as a “car assembler,” claiming his Tesla vehicles required parts manufactured across the world in nations such as China, Japan and Taiwan.
In an interview, Mr Navarro had explained: “When it comes to tariffs and trade, we all understand in the White House - and the American people understand - that Elon is a car manufacturer, but he's not a car manufacturer. He's a car assembler.”
The claim prompted an angry response from the tech-billionaire Musk on X, who shared a study which stated Tesla has more American-made cars than any other company.
”Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks,” the Tesla owner wrote. “Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false.”
The exchanges come after Musk made direct yet unsuccessful appeals to US President Trump to reverse tariffs over the past weekend, according to The Washington Post, who cited two people familiar with the matter.
The appeals are the highest-profile disagreement between the President and Musk and could open up a rift between the two egos.
Fears of a global trade war worsened on Tuesday as the White House revealed that US tariffs on Chinese goods would be ramped up to 104 per cent. The levies will start being collected from 5am UK time on Wednesday.
The new measures came after China accused Trump of blackmail and vowed to “fight to the end” in a trade war.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Beijing vowed to “resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests”.
Trump unveiled a 10% baseline tariff on all imports to the US along with higher duties on dozens of other countries last week on what he dubbed “Liberation Day”.
Musk, has been advising Trump and has been working to eliminate wasteful US public spending.
He called for zero tariffs between the US and Europe during a virtual interaction at a congress in Florence of Italy's right-wing, co-ruling League Party over the weekend.
Tesla has seen its quarterly sales drop sharply amid a backlash against Musk's work with a new "Department of Government Efficiency."
The company's shares are trading at $233.29 as of its last close on Monday, down over 42% since the beginning of the year.
Musk has previously said that the impact of US President Donald Trump's auto tariffs on Tesla is "significant."
Economists say the tariffs could reignite inflation, raise the risk of a U.S. recession and boost costs for the average U.S. family by thousands of dollars - a potential liability for a president who campaigned on a promise to bring down the cost of living.
