Peter Navarro Dismisses Elon Musk As A “Car Assembler”
Photo:@sawyerhackett
India-West News Desk
WASHINGTON, DC – The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all suffered their sharpest declines since 2020, marking a turbulent turn amid fears of an extended trade war and even recession setting in. The volatility follows the Donald Trump administration’s aggressive move to impose new tariffs, prompting concern from international partners and domestic industries alike.
Defending the administration’s stance, longtime Trump adviser and senior counselor for trade and manufacturing Peter Navarro told CNN on April 3 “The market will find a bottom. It will be soon, and from there, we’re going to have a bullish boom, and the Dow is going to hit 50,000 during Trump’s term.”
But Navarro’s confidence was quickly met with criticism—most notably from Elon Musk. After a user on X shared Navarro’s CNN interview and referenced his Harvard PhD in economics, Musk replied dismissively: A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing.
To another user’s comment on the video, Musk wrote, “He ain’t built shit.”
Musk has not held back in recent days. On April 5, he joined a video call with Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League party, where he called for an end to trade barriers between the U.S. and Europe. “I hope it is agreed that both Europe and the United States should move ideally, in my view, to a zero-tariff situation,” Musk said.
The clash with Navarro reflects Musk’s mounting frustration with how tariffs are affecting Tesla, of which he is the major shareholder. According to a March 25 report from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, Tesla’s sales in Europe fell by 49 percent in January and February 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. The company’s stock price has also taken a hit—down by half since December.
In an April 6 appearance on Fox News, Navarro, a known ideologue and Trump supporter who has been in jail, suggested Musk’s opposition to tariffs is rooted in personal business interests. “The thing that I think is important about Elon to understand is he sells cars. That’s what he does,” he said.
