As President Donald Trump moves ahead with his plan to impose sweeping tariffs on imported goods from the rest of the world, one typically vocal pro-Trump figure has remained largely absent from the cheerleading — tech billionaire Elon Musk, who, according to The Washington Post, has fruitlessly tried to lobby Trump against his scheme.
Musk, the de facto leader of the Department of Government Efficiency task force, has enthusiastically moved to lay off huge swathes of the civil service and suspend government agencies and programs across the board — but he and his businesses stand to lose billions from a shutdown of world trade.
"The attempted intervention, confirmed by two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private talks, has not brought success so far; Trump threatened Monday to add new 50 percent tariffs on imports from China to go along with the 34 percent taxes he announced last week," reported Elizabeth Dwoskin, Faiz Siddiqui, Pranshu Verma, and Trisha Thadani. And insofar as Musk has spoken publicly about this matter at all, noted the report, he "posted a video to X in which the late conservative economist Milton Friedman touted the benefits of international trade cooperation — 'the impersonal operation of prices,' as he put it — breaking down the sources of the materials that go into a simple wooden pencil."
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"Musk’s break with Trump over a signature administration priority marks the most high-profile disagreement between the president and one of his key advisers, who poured nearly $290 million into backing him and other Republicans in last year’s elections and has been leading the U.S. DOGE Service’s cost-cutting efforts since January," noted the report. "Musk has also disagreed with other members of Trump’s coalition on issues such as H1-B visas for skilled immigrants and on DOGE’s approach to government spending," which led to a brief revolt against Musk by some longtime MAGA activists.
Trump's tariff plan imposes 10 to 49 percent import duties on goods from around the globe, including on uninhabited Antarctic islands that were singled out despite not having any trade or even people. The move has sent stocks into freefall and has economists concerned that America could slip into a recession within the year.
Meanwhile, Musk is more publicly taking aim at White House officials who are bolstering Trump's trade policies, said the report.
"Musk took aim at the administration official who has been key to developing the tariff plans, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, lighting into his credentials. 'A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing,' Musk wrote."