In a report by The Washington Post, tech mogul Elon Musk personally appealed to former U.S. President Donald Trump to reconsider the administration's recent effort to impose significant tariffs on Chinese imports.
While Trump intensified his trade bluster, signaling that he might impose a 50% tariff on imports from China, Musk made public and private efforts to voice his disapproval.
Though he discreetly posted his opinions on the web, Tesla's CEO also interacted with Trump directly in private meetings in a bid to cool down the intended actions.
Sources indicated that Musk contacted Trump in recent days with a view to stopping the push for aggressive tariff hikes. His efforts, however, have still not been able to change the former president's position.
Trump earlier this week announced intentions to impose a 50% tariff on Chinese imports, on top of a previously announced 34% increase. However, he left the window of negotiations open.
Musk, who generally doesn't comment specifically on tariffs, shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) with a video of iconic economist Milton Friedman. Friedman explains in the video how international collaboration enables even complex products—such as a pencil—to exist, since their components come from all over the world.
With this post, Musk implicitly expressed his disagreement with trade barriers, inferring that they impede world integration. During a previous discussion with Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, the businessman promoted free trade. "At the end of the day, I hope it's agreed that both Europe and the United States should move ideally, in my view, to a zero-tariff situation," Musk stated.
Tariffs are especially vital to Musk's business interests since Tesla has operations in both the American and Chinese markets in the area of production and sales.
In another weekend incident, Musk had a go at White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, one of the prime architects of the existing tariff policy. Criticizing Navarro's credentials, Musk said, "A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing."
Rebuking Musk for his criticism, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt came to the defense of the administration's team. "The President has assembled an incredible team of extremely talented and experienced people who share diverse ideas so that they know that President Trump is the final decision maker," she said.
Musk's anti-tariff stance, however, has been ongoing for some time. In 2020, Tesla sued the Trump administration protesting against Chinese-imported auto components with import tariffs. While Musk originally backed the move in court, he eventually was hesitant lest his position would be interpreted as joining forces with China against Trump's "America First" trade policy, according to the Post.
The new trade tensions have had a real effect on Tesla's performance. On Monday, the company's stock fell by over 2.5%, closing at $233.29. Tesla has now lost more than 38% of its market value since the start of the year.
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