A rift seems to be developing between Donald Trump and his ‘first buddy’ Elon Musk over the president’s tariff plans.
If there was one thing that was almost certainly going to happen during Trump’s presidency, it was him eventually falling out with the Tesla CEO who had inserted himself front and centre into the Trump administration.
And it looks like this has happened just over two months into Trump’s second term, thanks to his sweeping tariffs which have tanked the global economy.
Musk, who is said to be stepping back from his government role in the coming weeks, has reportedly made a ‘direct personal appeal’ to the president urging him to reverse his tariffs.
According to sources who spoke to the Washington Post, the world’s richest man spent the weekend trying to convince Trump to reverse his tariff plan, probably after Musk remembered he owns businesses which are set to be badly affected by the tariffs.
Musk has publicly voiced his opposition to Trump’s trade strategy as well. On his X platform he has shared videos praising global capitalism and cooperation in trade, whilst also hitting out at White House trade advisor Peter Navarro.
In response to a video showing Navarro justifying the tariffs, Musk said it was a “bad thing” that Navarro had a PhD from Harvard in Economics.
He also labelled the economist a “moron” who is “dumber than a sack of bricks.”
Musk is likely also concerned about Trump’s attitude to China, a nation that accounted for more than a fifth of Tesla’s income last year.
Trump has threatened to hike China’s tariffs to 50 per cent if they don’t back down on their policy to impose reciprocal 34 per cent tariffs on the US.
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