'Elon and I are great': Trump aide Navarro brushes off Musk insults over tariffs

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro brushed off insults from Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Sunday, saying, “Elon and I are great,” following their public spat over President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs.

The spat erupted earlier this month when Musk criticized Navarro’s stance on trade, calling him a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks” after Navarro dismissed Musk’s call for zero tariffs between the US and Europe.

Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, Navarro dismissed the controversy, saying, “It’s not an issue.”

The anchor followed up: “Even though he called you a ‘moron’ and ‘dumber than a sack of bricks’?” Navarro replied calmly: “I’ve been called worse.”

"Everything's fine with Elon. And look, Elon is doing a very good job with his team tackling waste, fraud, and abuse. That’s a tremendous contribution to America." Navarro stated.

Navarro also condemned recent acts of vandalism targeting Tesla facilities, suggesting they were motivated by Musk’s increasingly vocal right-wing positions. "No man doing that kind of work should have to deal with his cars being firebombed by crazies," he added.

Earlier, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt brushed aside the clash between Navarro and Musk, calling it a simple policy disagreement. “Boys will be boys,” she said.

Musk, the world’s richest person and a key Trump ally, was recently tapped by the former president to lead efforts to reduce government spending and shrink the federal workforce.

However, Musk’s aggressive approach to downsizing—marked by mass layoffs and buyouts—has sparked controversy. Nearly 200,000 federal employees have been dismissed, marked for termination, or accepted severance deals under Musk's cost-cutting directive.

(With Inputs From Reuters)

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