In a rather surprising development, Elon Musk has called out White House Senior Advisor Peter Navarro. Specifically, Musk reacted to Navarro’s recent appearance on CNBC, where he said Tesla (TSLA) was “not a car manufacturer.” In response, Musk called the government official “truly a moron” while discrediting his claims.
Since US President Donald Trump’s election win in late 2024, Musk has been a pivotal part of his administration. On the campaign trail, the SpaceX head was selected to lead the Trump administration’s DOGE commission. He has since embraced the role in a year that has ravaged Tesla amid a market downturn.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Elon Musk says White House senior trade adviser Peter Navarro is "truly a moron" and "dumber than a sack of bricks."
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) April 8, 2025
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Elon Musk Calls White House’s Peter Navarro ‘Truly a Moron’ After Tesla Critique
It has been quite a difficult year for Elon Musk. As the world’s richest man sought to address wasteful spending in the United States government, his business interests have paid the price. Among the hardest hit is Tesla, which is down more than 5% over the last five days, despite a 6% turnaround Tuesday.
However, the company’s CEO came to its defense after recent claims were made by government official Peter Navarro. Specifically, Elon Musk slammed the White House senior trade advisor for what he called “demonstrably false” claims about the EV manufacturer.
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Speaking to CNBC, Navarro said Musk’s Tesla was not a true car manufacturer. “In many cases, if you go to his Texas plant, a good part of the engine that he gets (which in the EV case are the batteries) comes from Japan and comes from China.”
“What we want—and the difference is in our thinking and Elon’s on this—is that we want the tires made in Akron,” Navarro added. “We want the cars manufactured here,” he concluded. However, the statement caught the ire of Musk, who responded by calling Navarro “truly a moron.”
In a post to X (formerly Twitter), Musk contradicted the claims, questioning the intelligence of the adsvisor. Moreover, he discussed why the statement was false, noting the US-first mentality the company holds. “By any definition whatsoever, Tesla is the most vertically integrated auto manufacturer in America with the highest percentage of US content,” he said.