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Elon and Peter Navarro Squashed Beef · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey everyone, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
• 0:05
  I'm thrilled to share some exciting news with you over the
• 0:08
  next two weeks. We're evolving.
• 0:10
  We'll be broadening our focus to cover all the tech Titans
• 0:14
  shaping our world. And with that, our show will
• 0:16
  become Stage 0. You'll still get the latest
• 0:20
  insights on Elon Musk, plus so much more.
• 0:23
  So stay tuned for our official relaunch at stage 0 coming soon.
• 0:28
  Now let's get into this episode. Peter Navarro says there's no
• 0:33
  bad blood. That's his story, even after
• 0:36
  Elon Musk called him a moron and said he was Dumber than a sack
• 0:39
  of bricks. So the obvious question, how do
• 0:42
  2 top Trump world figures go from public name calling to
• 0:46
  pretending everything is just fine?
• 0:49
  Appearing on Meet the Press, Navarro shrugged off the insult.
• 0:51
  He said Elon and I are great. He laughed about it.
• 0:55
  He said I've been called worse. Despite the viral shots that
• 0:59
  Elon Musk took at him last week, Navarro insisted there's no rift
• 1:03
  between the two, even going as far as praising Elon for his
• 1:07
  work with the Trump administration's doge.
• 1:10
  It's controversial, of course, and it's slashing federal jobs.
• 1:14
  And that's where Elon Musk and Navarro are similar.
• 1:18
  They like this. Now their apparent disagreement
• 1:21
  started over tariffs. Musk, who called for a zero
• 1:25
  tariff situation between the US and Europe, finds himself at
• 1:30
  odds with Trump's trade agenda. Navarro defending steep tariffs
• 1:34
  as a negotiation tactic. He does not side with Elon Musk
• 1:41
  on this. He wants heavier imports from
• 1:44
  China, Japan and Taiwan. And Navarro's words on CNBC last
• 1:50
  week were blunt. He said Elon may be seen as an
• 1:53
  automaker, but in the administration's eyes, he's more
• 1:56
  of an auto assembler now. The administration, Navarro
• 2:00
  said, wants the entire supply chain, from tires in Akron to
• 2:04
  engines in Flint, to be American.
• 2:07
  That framing didn't sit well with Musk, who fired back on X,
• 2:10
  calling Navarro a moron and saying Tesla builds the most
• 2:13
  American made cars of any brand. Musk didn't stop there.
• 2:17
  He sarcastically apologized not to Navarro but to bricks, saying
• 2:21
  the comparison was unfair to them.
• 2:24
  Still, on Sunday, Navarro kept the peace.
• 2:26
  Publicly, he praised Musk's efforts in rooting out waste,
• 2:30
  fraud and abuse through the government efficiency program,
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  an effort that's helped facilitate the layoff of
• 2:36
  thousands of federal workers. Now that's a central part of
• 2:40
  Trump's push to shrink the federal bureaucracy.
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  Now. The drawn between Musk and
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  Navarro unfolded as the Trump administration temporarily eased
• 2:48
  some of its proposed tariffs last week after opposing
• 2:51
  sweeping new trade barriers. In early April, Trump announced
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  a 90 day pause on many of the duties, a move Navarro described
• 2:59
  as strategic. He claimed it had opened the
• 3:01
  door to active negotiations with nearly 90 countries.
• 3:06
  And press for details. On which countries are in talks,
• 3:09
  Navarro didn't give a full list, but he did name the UK, European
• 3:12
  Union, India, Japan, South Korea and Israel as being a
• 3:16
  discussion. Notably missing, though, is
• 3:19
  China. Instead, Navarro accused China
• 3:22
  of more than trade manipulation. He blamed the country for the
• 3:26
  spread of fentanyl and the hollowing out of US
• 3:28
  manufacturing. Asked whether talks with Beijing
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  around going, he replied that the US had extended an
• 3:34
  invitation but gave no indication of progress.
• 3:39
  Meanwhile, the administration has moved to exempt certain
• 3:42
  consumer electronics, such as smartphones and laptops, from
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  the new tariffs for now. And Navarro argued these
• 3:49
  exemptions were tied to the complexity of the microchip
• 3:52
  supply chain, not any softening of trade policy.
• 3:56
  He said. You don't buy chips in bags,
• 4:00
  they come inside products. Now.
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  That made targeting tariffs harder to apply, prompting the
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  Commerce Department to begin investigating the chip supply
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  chain directly. Commerce Secretary Howard
• 4:13
  Leitnick expanded on that on this week.
• 4:16
  He confirmed that a new wave of semiconductor focused tariffs is
• 4:19
  coming in the next month or two. And those duties, Leitnick said,
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  we'll aim to bring the chip manufacturing process back to
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  the US, despite current exemptions on products like
• 4:30
  smartphones. In other words, the electronics
• 4:34
  that just got a temporary break from tariffs, OK, they'll likely
• 4:39
  be hit again soon, just under a different label.
• 4:42
  And despite public disagreements on trade, Navarro insists the
• 4:46
  administration is unified. The tariffs, he claims, are
• 4:50
  functioning exactly as intended, forcing countries to the
• 4:54
  negotiating table. His description of the
• 4:56
  president's temporary pause on duties wasn't just strategic.
• 5:01
  He called it a birdie, the golf metaphor suggesting it was
• 5:04
  better than expected. And Navarro's message on Sunday
• 5:07
  was consistent. Tariffs are a tool, not the end
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  game. The administration is betting
• 5:12
  that applying pressure, then offering temporary relief will
• 5:16
  lead to better deals for American workers and
• 5:18
  manufacturers in the future. And As for the Musk feud,
• 5:22
  Navarro made it clear he's not interested in escalating
• 5:25
  whatever Musk says online. Navarro's staying on message
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  trade policy, not personal drama, is the priority, at least
• 5:34
  for now. And Peter Navarro dismissed any
• 5:36
  feud with Elon Musk as as just a rift after being publicly
• 5:41
  insulted, being called Dumber than a bag of bricks.
• 5:46
  But he maintained alignment with the administration's trade
• 5:49
  policy. It said recent tariff shifts are
• 5:51
  part of a calculated negotiation effort.
• 5:54
  Hey, thank you so much for listening today.
• 5:56
  I really do appreciate your support.
• 5:58
  If. You could take a second and hit
• 5:59
  this subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast
• 6:02
  platform that you're listening on right now.
• 6:04
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  tremendously and you'll never miss an episode.
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  And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you
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  caught up. Quickly.
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  to. Atreoncom.
• 6:19
  Stage zero and please take care of yourselves and each other and
• 6:24
  I'll see you tomorrow.