'Boys will be boys': White House shrugs off Musk and Navarro's public 'moron' spat
The first major spat in Donald Trump’s team has broken out, with Elon Musk calling Trump’s ‘tariffs guru,’ Pete Navarro, a “moron” after a disagreement on the President’s sweeping tariffs.
Listen to this article
Read time: 4 minutes
In brief:
- A public feud has erupted between Elon Musk and Peter Navarro over tariffs, with Musk calling Navarro a "moron" after Navarro criticised Tesla's manufacturing practices.
- White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the conflict saying "boys will be boys," but it represents the first major internal disagreement in Trump's administration, centered on his signature tariff policy.
- The dispute highlights a fundamental clash between Navarro's ideological approach to trade versus Musk's business concerns, as the tariffs potentially threaten Tesla's operations and profitability.
What’s the story?
“Boys will be boys.”
That was White House Press secretly Karoline Leavitt’s response to a public spat that erupted in the aftermath of President Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
The problem is, the ‘boys’ she’s talking about are two senior members of Trump’s team - Peter Navarro, President Trump’s trade advisor, and Elon Musk, world’s richest man and head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficient (Doge).
"When she says 'boys will be boys', she's not talking about a spat over a football in a playground. She's talking about something that is destabilising the entire world" Emily Maitlis says on The News Agents.
Musk posted on X calling Navarro a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks”.
Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 8, 2025
The comments came after Navarro said Musk was a “car assembler,” not a “car manufacturer” in an interview on CNBC, adding that the batteries for his Tesla vehicles are made in Japan and China.
“In other words, he tried to say that Musk is part of the problem, because he creates these imbalances. He brings things into the US to make his cars, as opposed to having them made in the US,” Emily explains.
Musk has refuted Navarro’s comments as “demonstrably false”.
It’s the first big sign of a notable disagreement in the Trump administration since his term began, with Musk reportedly personally appealing to Trump to reverse the tariffs, albeit unsuccessfully, the Washington Post reports.
“These are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and on tariffs,” Leavitt told reporters when asked about the row.
“Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue.”
What’s The News Agents’ take?
The public sparring between Musk and Navarro is starting to show where the “political cracks” are appearing in Trump’s administration, Emily says.
The two figures involved are “fundamental” to the battle inside the White House, Jon Sopel explains, with both being senior figures trying to influence Trump’s “signature policy”.
“Musk is the most powerful non-elected man in the world because of his proximity to power and the license that Donald Trump has given him. And he is taking on the man who Donald Trump wants to be the guide, the guru, of the tariffs policy.
Until now, Musk has been a die-hard Trump fan, backing his every move and even wearing a MAGA hat that reads ‘Trump was right about everything’ in a cabinet meeting last month.
It might be out of character for Musk to question a Trump policy, but he has a clear conflict of interest with his electric vehicle business, Tesla.
“Elon Musk realises that the tariffs are going to put him out of business if it carries on at this rate - and Navarro simply doesn't care,” Emily says.
“Fundamentally here, you have the clash between an ideologue, in the shape of Navarro, and a realist, somebody who actually wants to make money, and has done so very successfully, in the shape of Elon Musk.
“And that's why these two are locking horns now, because Musk just wants to be allowed to make his cars.”
Emily says one of the most “exciting” and “scary” questions now is how the die-hard MAGA fans rationalise what’s going on.
She asks; “What do you do if you are a MAGA fundamentalist? How long do you keep believing in this man who is damaging your daily life?”
That is where, like it has with Navarro and Musk, ideology will eventually have to answer to reality.
“Navarro is someone who believes; ‘I don't care if the world burns, at the end of it, we will have a better America’.
“There are Americans who are thinking; ‘hang on, but I'm here now, living in this world. I don't want to burn’.”