Elon Musk, who heads the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has directly asked President Donald Trump to review the additional import tariffs that he imposes on a reciprocal basis, the Washington Post reported, citing its sources.
According to them, Musk has failed. Thus, the businessman's disagreement with one of the priority areas of activity of the US administration becomes the loudest disagreement between the president and one of his key advisers. The billionaire has expressed disagreement with other senior officials in the Washington administration on issues such as migrant visas and DOGE's approach to government spending, the publication notes.
As the newspaper recalls, on Saturday the businessman criticized the senior adviser to the US leader on trade and manufacturing Peter Navarro, who played a key role in preparing the plan to introduce tariffs. “Harvard PhD in economics is bad, not good“, Musk wrote on the social media platform X, referring to Navarro.
The Washington Post recalls Musk's words over the weekend that he would like to see a "free trade zone" between Europe and the United States.
“Ultimately, I hope there will be an agreement that both Europe and the United States ideally, I think, should move to a zero-tariff situation“, the billionaire was quoted as saying by the newspaper. Musk said he would like people to be able to move freely between Europe and the United States and work in both places, “if they choose to“. “That was certainly my advice to the president,“ he added.
“The president has assembled a great team of talented and experienced people who bring different ideas to the table, knowing that Trump is the one who makes the final decision,“ said White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt. “When he makes a decision, everyone pulls together to implement it. That’s why this administration has accomplished more in two months than the previous administration did in four years.“
Tesla CEO Musk has long viewed tariffs as damaging to his company’s business, which relies on the United States and China for manufacturing and sales. The new tariffs are likely to hit other automakers hard, analysts say.
Many of the business and technology leaders who supported Trump’s candidacy were stunned by the president’s decision to impose such harsh tariffs and disappointed that they were unable to exert more influence on policy, the newspaper notes. In this regard, influential American businessmen directly turned to their close friends in the Trump administration, including Vice President J. D. Vance and Musk, the publication emphasizes.
On April 2, Trump announced the introduction of tariffs on goods from 185 countries and territories. The universal tariffs of 10% took effect on April 5, and individual tariffs will take effect on April 9. In addition, the US administration has imposed a 25% tariff on all imported cars from April 3.