Musk’s bold plea to Trump falls flat as tariff tensions soar

Tech-billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk made direct yet unsuccessful appeals to US President Donald Trump to reverse tariffs over the past weekend, Washington Post reported on Monday citing two people familiar with the matter.

This exchange marks the highest profile disagreement between the President and Musk, the report said. It follows Trump’s unveiling of a 10% baseline tariff on all imports to the U.S. along with higher duties on dozens of other countries.

The White House and Musk did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Musk, a Trump adviser who has been working to eliminate wasteful U.S. public spending, called for zero tariffs between the U.S. and Europe during a virtual interaction at a congress in Florence of Italy’s right-wing, co-ruling League Party over the weekend.

Tesla has seen its quarterly sales drop sharply amid a backlash against Musk’s work with a new “Department of Government Efficiency.” The company’s shares are trading at $233.29 as of its last close on Monday, down over 42% since the beginning of the year.

Musk has previously said that the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s auto tariffs on Tesla is “significant.”

Economists say the tariffs could reignite inflation, raise the risk of a U.S. recession and boost costs for the average U.S. family by thousands of dollars – a potential liability for a president who campaigned on a promise to bring down the cost of living.