Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk unleashed a blistering tirade against former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Tuesday, calling him a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks” in response to Navarro’s dismissive remarks about Tesla’s manufacturing credibility.

The tech mogul and Tesla CEO, 53, lit up social media after Navarro claimed on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that Musk was “not a car manufacturer” but merely “a car assembler,” accusing Tesla of relying too heavily on imported parts.

“Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false,” Musk fired back on X. “Tesla has the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks.”

Musk cited a 2023 Cars.com study showing that Tesla produced four of the top five most American-made vehicles — though critics noted the study controversially includes Canada in its “U.S. content” calculations.

Still, Musk was relentless. In a follow-up jab, he dubbed Navarro “Peter Retardo” and ridiculed the Harvard-educated economist’s credentials, suggesting his Ivy League degrees were “a bad thing, not a good thing.”

The public brawl comes amid rising tensions within the pro-business wing of Trump’s inner orbit, ignited by a sweeping round of tariffs rolled out last week — the most aggressive protectionist push in nearly a century. Navarro, 75, was a key architect of the new measures, which impose a blanket 10% tariff on all imports, with even higher rates set to take effect this week.

While Musk has avoided directly criticizing former President Trump, his discontent with the tariff barrage is palpable. Over the weekend, Musk reposted a classic video of economist Milton Friedman explaining the global complexity of making a pencil — a not-so-subtle warning against meddling with international supply chains.

“Tariffs can’t change supply chains overnight,” Musk said in a recent conversation with Italy’s League Party leader Matteo Salvini. “I hope the U.S. and Europe can move toward a zero-tariff agreement.”

Navarro, for his part, tried to downplay the verbal slugfest. “Elon, when he’s in his DOGE lane, is great,” Navarro told Fox News, alluding to Musk’s role in Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative. “But we get it — he’s protecting his business.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt brushed aside the spat with a smirk: “Boys will be boys,” she quipped, praising Trump’s “willingness to hear from all sides.”

But beneath the jabs and memes lies a serious economic rift. As the stock market reels from tariff-induced volatility, Musk’s own fortune has cratered — shedding nearly $50 billion in just two weeks, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)