Peter Navarro was confronted over his attempt to downplay his feud with Elon Musk after Donald Trump’s right-hand man described him as “dumber than a sack of bricks.”
Speaking on NBC’s Meet The Press with Kristen Welker, Trump adviser Navarro claimed that the row is “not an issue” and said: “Elon and I are great.”
Questioned over Musk’s online name-calling, Navarro said: “I’ve been called worse. Everything’s fine with Elon.”
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The feud between Musk and Navarro, who is widely credited with cooking up Trump’s sky-high import taxes, exploded last week as they took opposing sides over the president’s market-crashing “Liberation Day” tariffs.
Navarro, 75, defended the levies as the Tesla CEO called for a “zero-tariff situation.” In a series of X posts, Musk called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks”, a “moron,” and “Peter Retarrdo” in an apparent reference to the r-word slur.
Speaking on the NBC show, Navarro also praised Musk’s work as head of the so-called Department of Government Efficience, or DOGE..
“Elon is doing a very good job with his team with waste, fraud, and abuse,” he said. “That’s a tremendous contribution to America, and no man doing that kind of thing should be subject to having his cars firebombed by crazies.”
This is Navarro’s second public plea over his relationship with Musk after he appeared on CNN’s The Arena with Kasie Hunt.
“Elon and I are fine. We’re great,” Trump’s tariff mastermind said. “It’s no problem. I said that earlier—it’s like, it’s no problem.”
“My job is trade. Elon does DOGE, and the twain doesn’t meet,” Navarro told CNN. “That’s a tempest in a teapot and it’s in my rearview mirror and it’s in here. We’re fine.”
The feud has been dismissed by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt as a row between “boys.”
“Boys will be boys,” she said, adding that the “sparring” would continue and the Trump administration had no problem with it.
“I think it also speaks to the president’s willingness to hear from all sides,” she said.
Musk has not publicly commented on the feud.
Meanwhile, Politico reported that Navarro has been relegated to the sidelines of Trump’s trade team and was not in the room when Trump made the final call to pause his tariffs.
