{"id":4919,"date":"2025-04-11T01:29:32","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T01:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightflowmedia.com\/?p=4919"},"modified":"2025-04-11T01:29:32","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T01:29:32","slug":"h0t-elon-musk-tried-to-stop-trumps-tariff-w-r-tesla-lost-100000000000-and-trump-chose-navarro-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insightflowmedia.com\/?p=4919","title":{"rendered":"H0T! Elon Musk tried to stop Trump\u2019s tariff w-r. Tesla lost $100,000,000,000, and Trump chose Navarro instead."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>A once-curious friendship between tech titan Elon Musk and President Donald Trump appears to be unraveling in public, following a weekend filled with behind-the-scenes pleading, televised sniping, and policy fallout. According to\u00a0The Washington Post, Musk attempted \u2014 and failed \u2014 to convince Trump to reconsider his sweeping new tariff regime, a move that has already rattled markets and wiped more than $100 billion from Tesla\u2019s market capitalization.In what is now being seen as the most visible break between Musk and the Trump administration since the latter took office for a second term, tensions spilled over as both Musk and Trump\u2019s top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, took to airwaves and social media to snipe at each other. Behind the scenes, sources say Musk privately urged Trump to abandon the aggressive tariff expansion.But Trump held firm.\u201cNo more friends,\u201d said a senior administration official familiar with the exchange. \u201cElon made his pitch, and the President said no.\u201dThe moment marks a political and financial inflection point for both Trump and Musk. For Trump, it underscores his growing confidence in trade hawks like Navarro as he reshapes the U.S. economy in his nationalist vision. For Musk, it signals the waning of his once-outsized influence inside the administration \u2014 and possibly his departure from Trumpworld altogether.Tesla\u2019s stock has taken a beating over the past several days, shedding over $100 billion in market value amid fears that Trump\u2019s tariffs will spike input costs, disrupt global supply chains, and make American-made electric vehicles less competitive on the global stage. For a company like Tesla \u2014 heavily reliant on imported raw materials and global manufacturing \u2014 the economic damage is immediate.Musk made his opposition known in characteristically blunt fashion, sharing a viral clip of free-market economist Milton Friedman warning against tariffs and economic nationalism. He added no caption, letting the message speak for itself. But he didn\u2019t stop there.Musk engaged directly with media clips of Peter Navarro \u2014 Trump\u2019s long-time trade adviser and Harvard-trained economist \u2014 calling him out for pushing what Musk sees as destructive, self-serving policy. The feud escalated when Navarro appeared on Fox News, brushing off Musk\u2019s criticism.\u201cElon, when he\u2019s in his DOGE lane, is great,\u201d Navarro said, referring to Musk\u2019s involvement with Dogecoin. \u201cBut we understand what\u2019s going on here. Elon sells cars. He\u2019s simply protecting his own interests.\u201dNavarro repeated the sentiment the next day on CNBC, stating that \u201ceverything\u2019s good with Elon, I promise,\u201d though few in Washington believed the calm rhetoric matched the behind-the-scenes reality.According to The Washington Post, Musk spent the weekend trying to directly appeal to President Trump, urging him to reconsider the scope and structure of the tariffs. Sources say Musk pointed to the potential long-term economic damage, the market chaos already unfolding, and the negative impact on innovation and American competitiveness.Trump, however, was unmoved.\u00a0\u201cHe listened,\u201d said one source close to the talks, \u201cbut he didn\u2019t waver. Navarro has his ear on this one.\u201dThe rejection stings not only because of the economic impact but also due to the personal relationship Musk and Trump once shared. Musk was a fixture in Trump\u2019s first-term business councils and even helped shape certain aspects of the administration\u2019s early economic messaging. But as Trump\u2019s policies veered deeper into populist nationalism, the distance between the two grew \u2014 culminating in this weekend\u2019s impasse.\u201cThis is the clearest signal yet that Musk is on the way out,\u201d said Grant Holbrook, a political strategist with ties to several Fortune 500 CEOs. \u201cHe no longer has the President\u2019s ear.\u201dAdding another layer to the fallout, Musk\u2019s younger brother, Kimbal Musk, weighed in on X, attacking Trump\u2019s tariff strategy from a macroeconomic standpoint.\u00a0\u201cWho would have thought that Trump was actually the most high-tax American President in generations,\u201d he wrote.He went on to call the tariffs a \u201cstructural, permanent tax on the American consumer,\u201d warning that even if the policy successfully encourages domestic job creation, Americans would continue to face high prices.\u201cWe are simply not as good at making all things,\u201d Kimbal added, pointing to comparative disadvantages in manufacturing that tariffs alone cannot fix.The comments struck a chord among economists who argue that tariffs function as consumption taxes, disproportionately hurting low- and middle-income Americans.Despite the swirling controversy, the Trump administration appears unbothered \u2014 at least publicly.When The Washington Post reached out for comment, the administration responded by doubling down on its confidence in the team, including Navarro.\u00a0\u201cThe President has put together a remarkable team of highly talented and experienced individuals who bring different ideas to the table, knowing that President Trump is the ultimate decision maker,\u201d a spokesperson said.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also sought to downplay any perception of internal rifts:\u00a0\u201cWhen he makes a decision, everyone rows in the same direction to execute,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s why this Administration has done more in two months than the previous Admin did in four years.\u201dThe implication was clear: Musk is no longer part of the inner circle.While Elon Musk\u2019s star within the administration dims, Peter Navarro\u2019s influence is clearly on the rise. The architect of Trump&#8217;s trade agenda appears to have weathered the billionaire backlash with little consequence \u2014 and perhaps even more support than before.\u201cNavarro has something Musk doesn\u2019t: ideological loyalty,\u201d says Dr. Helen Redding, a political economist at Georgetown University. \u201cTrump admires results, but he values loyalty more. Navarro has stuck with the President\u2019s worldview on trade and global power. That\u2019s not something Musk can offer.\u201dAnd while Navarro declined to respond to further media inquiries this week, his TV appearances and continued internal backing suggest he\u2019s not going anywhere.Trump himself hinted that Musk may step away from his informal advisory role in the coming months, citing Musk\u2019s business obligations.\u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s got a lot going on,\u201d Trump said at a recent press briefing. \u201cSpaceX, Tesla \u2014 all big stuff. We\u2019ll see what happens.\u201dMusk\u2019s silence in recent days has been noticeable. After his social media volley with Navarro, and his brother\u2019s high-profile post, Elon has refrained from further public escalation \u2014 a rare pause from someone known for his public confrontations.Analysts say the next few weeks will be telling.\u00a0\u201cIf Musk stays quiet, he\u2019s strategizing,\u201d said Reagan Henson, an analyst at Capital Group. \u201cIf he speaks out again \u2014 especially against Trump \u2014 we\u2019ll know the break is permanent.\u201dFor now, one thing is certain: the price of this policy dispute is steep. Between Tesla\u2019s losses, investor jitters, and growing uncertainty about U.S. trade policy, the Musk\u2013Trump relationship is unraveling at high cost \u2014 both financially and politically.What began as a mutually beneficial alignment between a business icon and a populist president has ended, not with a bang, but with a tweet and a cold \u201cno.\u201dElon Musk tried to hold onto influence. Donald Trump chose tariffs \u2014 and Peter Navarro \u2014 instead.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A once-curious friendship between tech titan Elon Musk and President Donald Trump appears to be unraveling in public, following a weekend filled with behind-the-scenes pleading, televised sniping, and policy fallout. &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightflowmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightflowmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightflowmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightflowmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightflowmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4919"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightflowmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4921,"href":"https:\/\/insightflowmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4919\/revisions\/4921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightflowmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightflowmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightflowmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightflowmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}