United States President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk do not appear to see eye to eye on the subject of tariffs, which are taxes imposed on goods brought in from countries outside the US. As reported earlier, Musk allegedly made a personal appeal to Trump, requesting to lift the recently imposed tariffs on Chinese imports.
This all followed Trump announcing tariffs in excess of 70% that worried about a potential global trade war. As reported in The Washington Post, even after the previous appeal, Musk, CEO of Tesla, attempted to lobby Trump privately to reverse the tariffs. Unfortunately, it has failed so far.
Musk’s Public Disagreement With Trump
Musk’s Public Disagreement with Trump Musk has stated that he is against tariffs and feels they are damaging to businesses like Tesla, which has manufacturing and sales in the US as well as in China. Musk even posted a video on X (formerly known as Twitter) of the economist Milton Friedman talking about the advantages of cooperating in trade globally—suggesting, likely on purpose, that Musk disagreed with Trump’s trade policies. Just before the tariffs went into effect, Musk told Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister that he was hoping for “zero tariffs” between the US and Europe, and that he had even advised Trump on pursuing zero tariffs.
Musk’s Public Disagreement With Trump
Musk has stated that he is against tariffs and feels they are damaging to businesses like Tesla, which has manufacturing and sales in the US as well as in China. Musk even posted a video on X (formerly known as Twitter) of the economist Milton Friedman talking about the advantages of cooperating in trade globally—suggesting, likely on purpose, that Musk disagreed with Trump’s trade policies. Just before the tariffs went into effect, Musk told Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister that he was hoping for “zero tariffs” between the US and Europe, and that he had even advised Trump on pursuing zero tariffs.
A Tension-Ridden Relationship
This spat is one of the largest conceived public splits between President Trump Anderson and one of his principal advisers. Musk, who spent nearly 290 million supporting Trump during the last presidential election and was appointed to spearhead Government Efficiency USA cost containment efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). As it happens, Musk is expected to step down from DOGE shortly, which may explain the timing of this public disagreement. He has had other public spats with Trump’s team, including disagreements about matters related to skilled worker visas(H1-B visas) or government spending.
