Elon Musk brands Trump adviser Peter Navarro ‘dumber than a sack of bricks’ over tariffs

Billionaire presidential adviser Elon Musk attacked White House trade counsellor Peter Navarro as “dumber than a sack of bricks” as a fight over President Donald Trump’s tariff regime spilled onto social media on Tuesday.

In a flurry of posts, Musk called Navarro “truly a moron” and mocked the trade adviser for previously citing the work of “Ron Vara” – a fictional expert whose name is an anagram of his own.

The missives were the latest volley in an increasingly bitter spat between the two that broke out after Trump last week announced that he was imposing a minimum 10 per cent tariff on most imports, with additional levies on around 60 countries that have larger trade deficits with the US. The announcement was seen as a policy win for Navarro, who has advocated aggressive trade measures in hopes of helping to boost domestic manufacturing.

Shortly after the announcement, Musk jabbed at Navarro by saying his degree in economics from Harvard was “a bad thing, not a good thing” and criticised the trade adviser for not having built companies on his own.

Navarro, in a subsequent interview with CNBC, said the criticism was not surprising from the Tesla CEO because he was a “car assembler” who used parts from other countries.