Elon Musk has called President Donald Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, a “moron” over comments he made about his electric vehicle firm, Tesla. Musk – who is also a member of the Trump administration – also said Navarro was “dumber than a sack of bricks” in posts on his social media platform X.
It was in response to an interview Navarro gave in which he described Tesla as a “car assembler”, rather than a manufacturer, because of its use of foreign-made parts. Navarro was being interviewed about Trump’s tariff policy and said he wanted to see such parts made in the US in the future instead.
Musk said the claims were “demonstrably false.”
Trump has in part justified his global wave of tariffs by saying he wants to revive manufacturing in the US.
Responding to the comments on Tuesday, Musk posted a link to a 2023 article by car valuation firm Kelley Blue Book, which cited Car.com findings that Tesla vehicles had the most parts produced in the US.
Elon Musk also wrote that by any definition whatsoever, Tesla is the most vertically integrated auto manufacturer in America with the highest percentage of US content.
Technology industry analyst Dan Ives said on Sunday that the company was less exposed to tariffs than other US car makers such as GM, Ford, and Stellantis.
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