‘He Ain’t Built Sh*t’: Elon Musk Fires at Trump Econ Adviser Peter Navarro over Tariffs

Peter Navarro, President Donald Trump’s top adviser on trade and manufacturing, has become the subject of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk’s criticism as Musk denounces the administration’s latest tariffs.

Navarro, who has a PhD in economics from Harvard University, is widely considered the “architect” of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs unveiled last week at the White House, according to Reuters.

Despite also having a senior role in the Trump administration, Musk unleashed his opinions in a Saturday reply to an X clip of Navarro explaining that the president wants to charge other countries “what they charge us.”

“A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing,” the tech mogul wrote. “Results in the ego/brains>>1 problem.”

In another comment that has since been deleted, Musk said, “He ain’t built sh*t,” referring to Navarro.

The billionaire’s response came after Tesla stock plummeted following the tariffs announcement, Newsweek reported.

Musk also replied affirmatively to a quote attributed to renowned economist Thomas Sowell on “a man from Harvard” being in the middle of “every disaster throughout American history,” though the source of the quote is unclear.

“Yup,” the DOGE leader responded. 

Navarro took to CNBC on Monday to address Musk’s comments, calling him a “car assembler” who wants to keep his costs down.

Look, Elon Musk and his DOGE team is making contributions to America in terms of waste, fraud, and abuse. And that’s a very good thing for this country and the American people. […] But he’s not a car manufacturer, he’s a car assembler, in many cases.

If you go to his Texas plant, a good part of the engines that he gets — which, in the EV case — is the batteries come from Japan and come from China. The electronics come from Taiwan… What we want, and the difference is in our thinking and Elon’s on this, is that we want the tires made in Akron. We want the transmissions made in Indianapolis. We want the engines made in Flint and Saginaw. And we want the cars manufactured here.

This business model where BMW and Mercedes come in to Spartanburg, South Carolina, and have us assemble German engines and Austrian transmissions — that doesn’t work for America. It’s bad for our economics. It’s bad for our national security. 

“And with Elon, it’s fine. He’s a car man — he’s a car person. That’s what he does. And he wants the cheap foreign parts. And we understand that,” Navarro added. He noted that the rift between himself and Musk is “no big deal” and that the pair would likely see each other at the White House later that day. 

Trump had not made a public comment on the spat at the time of writing. 

Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, D.C. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.