Musk personally asked Trump to reconsider new tariffs: Reports
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Elon Musk personally urged President Trump to reconsider new tariffs after publicly criticizing Trade Advisor Peter Navarro, but Trump pressed ahead with threats of steeper tariffs.
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President Donald Trump, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and his son X Æ A-Xii arrive on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Washington. (Pool via AP)
The Washington Post reported, citing two sources, that Elon Musk, head of the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), personally urged US President Donald Trump to reconsider the newly proposed tariffs on imports from several countries.
The report states that Musk reached out to Trump over the weekend after launching a series of social media posts criticizing Trade Advisor Peter Navarro, a key architect of Trump’s aggressive tariff strategy.
So far, the effort has not yielded results. According to the newspaper, on Monday, Trump warned of an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports—on top of those already announced—if Beijing proceeded with retaliatory actions.
Despite Trump’s earlier tariffs on the EU, Musk voiced his backing on Sunday to establish a free trade zone with the European Union.
On April 2, the US president signed an executive order imposing "reciprocal" tariffs on imports, describing the move as a "liberation." The base rate will be set at 10%, rising to 20% for EU goods. Trump projected that these tariffs would generate $6 to $7 trillion in budget revenue.
Trump, Musk to part ways soon
US President Donald Trump informed his inner circle on Monday, including Cabinet officials, that Musk will stand down from his present roles as governing partner, according to Politico.
The US president is still satisfied with Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency initiative, but both men recently agreed that it’s time for Musk to step back from his role and return to his businesses, with Musk taking on a more supportive position, according to three Trump insiders who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
This shift comes as frustrations have grown among some Trump administration figures and many external allies, who view Musk’s unpredictability as a growing political liability—something underscored on Tuesday when a conservative judge he supported lost his bid for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat by ten points.
According to one senior administration official, Musk will most certainly continue to serve as an informal advisor and appear on the White House grounds on occasion. Another warned that anybody who believes Musk would depart completely from Trump's circle is "fooling themselves".
Sources say the shift would likely coincide with Musk's departure from his status as a "special government employee," which temporarily exempts him from several ethical and conflict-of-interest guidelines. The 130-day term is likely to end in late May or early June.
Musk's supporters within the administration think that the moment has come for a transition, and many others believe he is an unpredictable, unmanageable force who has struggled to communicate his plans with Cabinet secretaries and through the White House chain of command led by chief of staff Susie Wiles, frequently sending them into a frenzy with unexpected and off-message comments on X, his social-media platform, including sharing unvetted and uncoordinated plans to gut federal agencies.
