Musk Slams Navarro, Calls for More Free Trade

Elon Musk blasted top Trump administration trade adviser Peter Navarro and told an Italian political gathering he wants more free trade, not less.

The two-day rout in the stock market this week, after Trump announced sweeping new tariffs backed by Navarro, cost Musk nearly $18 billion just on his Tesla stock.

By wading into the tariff debate, a subject he's mostly stayed away from, Musk could inject more uncertainty into U.S. efforts to re-order the global economy.

Friday morning, a user on Musk's social media platform X defended the controversial Navarro as a skilled voice on tariffs, citing his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard.

Musk, in a reply in the early hours of Saturday morning, disagreed.

"A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing," he wrote, suggesting it resulted in having more ego than brains.

Another user stepped in to defend Navarro as right on trade, to which Musk replied "He ain't built s--t."

Later Saturday, Musk appeared by video at an event for an Italian political party, where he reportedly called for trade barriers to fall.

"Both Europe and the United States should move, ideally, in my view, to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America," Musk said at the event, per Bloomberg.

Besides Navarro, other top Trump officials with Harvard Ph.D.'s in economics include Council of Economic Advisers chair Stephen Miran.

Navarro has been ubiquitous on TV in recent days, defending Trump's tariff program and touting a possible $600 billion in new annual revenue.

Trump calls the tariffs an "economic revolution" and says big businesses will do well in the end because of pending tax cuts.

Musk, who has wielded significant influence in the Trump administration, may be stepping back in coming months, the president said Thursday.

The DOGE head recently said most of his work cutting $1 trillion from the deficit could be done soon.