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Musk vs Navarro: Is the Trump team divided on tariffs?

Musk vs Navarro: Is the Trump team divided on tariffs?

United States President Donald Trump has doubled down on his tariffs plan, even as markets crash around the world. However, signs of divisions among Trump’s aides are emerging with key ally Elon Musk publicly clashing with trade adviser Peter Navarro on Saturday. Others have also presented diverging narratives. Here is more about what has happened: What happened between Musk and Navarro? On Wednesday, Trump announced sweeping tariffs impacting most of America’s trading partners. This marked a major break from decades of US trade policy and sparked criticism and concern from economists and countries targeted by Trump’s tariffs. In the aftermath, the three major stock indices in the US – the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq – dropped by more than 5 percent over the past week. This marked the biggest stock market drop in the US since 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Longtime Trump aide and the administration’s senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing, Peter Navarro, defended the tariffs in an interview with CNN on Thursday. Advertisement “The market will find a bottom. It will be soon, and from there, we’re going to have a bullish boom, and the Dow is going to hit 50,000 during Trump’s term,” Navarro said. As of Monday, the Dow Jones stood at 38,314 before the start of trading. After an X user posted a clip of Navarro speaking to CNN and alluded to the adviser’s doctorate from Harvard University, Musk hit back on the platform, which he owns. “A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing,” Musk posted. The first phase of the new tariffs – 10 percent levies on countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, Argentina and Saudi Arabia – came into effect on Saturday. Higher levies that Trump calls reciprocal tariffs are scheduled to come into effect on Wednesday against countries including China and India. What did Musk say about tariffs on Europe? The hit against Navarro hasn’t been Musk’s only comment on tariffs in recent days. On Saturday, Musk – who oversees the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked by Trump to slash government spending – joined a conversation by videolink with Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right League party. During this conversation, Musk voiced hopes for “a zero-tariff situation” between the US and Europe, even as Trump has imposed 20 percent tariffs on the European Union. “I hope it is agreed that both Europe and the United States should move ideally, in my view, to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free-trade zone between Europe and North America,” Musk said. Advertisement Musk – the world’s richest man, who is CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and the largest shareholder of both firms – has seen his firms face setbacks in recent weeks. In Europe alone, Tesla’s sales have plunged by 49 percent in January and February when compared with the same months in 2024, according to a March 25 report published by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. Tesla’s share price has also stumbled. It’s about half of what it was in December. How has Navarro responded? In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Navarro responded to Musk’s comments about the tariffs in Europe. “It was interesting to hear Elon Musk talk about a zero-tariff zone with Europe. He doesn’t understand that,” Navarro said. “The thing that I think is important about Elon to understand is he sells cars. That’s what he does,” Navarro added, suggesting that Musk’s comments on tariffs were linked to his business interests. What had Musk said earlier about tariffs? Last month, Tesla warned the US government that tariffs could harm electric vehicle companies when Trump’s tariff targets impose their own levies on American products. In an unsigned letter to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Tesla said: “US exporters are inherently exposed to disproportionate impacts when other countries respond to US trade actions.” The company added: “Past trade actions by the United States have resulted in immediate reactions by the targeted countries, including increased tariffs on electric vehicles imported into those countries.” Advertisement On March 26, Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on car imports and certain automobile parts. In response to this, Musk wrote on X: “Important to note that Tesla is NOT unscathed here. The tariff impact on Tesla is still significant.” Are there other signs of splits within Team Trump? Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CBS News on Sunday that the 10 percent baseline tariffs will “stay in place for days and weeks” and the higher reciprocal tariffs would also take effect. However, on the same day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told NBC’s Meet The Press that more than 50 countries had reached out to Washington for negotiations to cut the levies. “The market consistently underestimates Donald Trump,” he said in response to the market crashes. Also on Sunday, CNN anchor Jake Tapper asked Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins whether the tariffs are here to stay like Trump and Lutnick have said. Rollins did not directly answer this question. Adblock test (Why?)

Trump’s 12th week in office to be dominated by tariffs fallout, Netanyahu visit

Trump’s 12th week in office to be dominated by tariffs fallout, Netanyahu visit

President Donald Trump’s 12th week in office is likely to center around the fallout from last week’s announcement of several new tariffs and a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “HANG TOUGH,” Trump said on social media Saturday while defending new U.S. tariffs, adding that “it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic.” The comments come as much of Trump’s 12th week in office promises to center around the president’s decision last week to announce new tariffs on dozens of countries around the world, a policy he argued will eventually “supercharge” the economy as part of his “economic revolution.” STEPHEN MILLER SAYS AMERICANS HAVE TO UNDERSTAND HOW ‘BADLY’ WE’VE BEEN RIPPED OFF AS A COUNTRY But concerns remain about the economic pitfalls of the new tariffs, most notably after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq saw their worst plunge of the decade late last week. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2,231.07 points, or 5.5%, on Friday, adding to the concern over Trump’s trade policies. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the tariffs a “massive assault on American families” during an appearance on CNN over the weekend, arguing that the policy will only serve to “help the billionaires.” Nevertheless, Trump appeared ready to double down on his tariff push in the week ahead, vowing the trade plan will be a “win” in the long run. TRUMP’S CHINA TARIFFS FACE LEGAL CHALLENGE FROM CONSERVATIVE GROUP CALLING THEM ‘UNLAWFUL’ “We are bringing back jobs and businesses like never before. Already, more than FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS OF INVESTMENT, and rising fast! THIS IS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION, AND WE WILL WIN,” Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social. Meanwhile, Trump is set to host Netanyahu at the White House on Monday, when the two leaders are likely to discuss not only the 17% tariff the president placed on the longtime U.S. ally but also the ongoing expansion of the Israeli invasion of Gaza. Trump is also likely to keep a close eye on Congress in the week ahead as GOP lawmakers push forward to advance the president’s multitrillion-dollar spending agenda. The Senate adopted Trump’s budget blueprint over the weekend, which will now require approval from the House in order to push forward toward the budget reconciliation process. But doubts remain that Trump’s agenda can clear the lower chamber this week, with the GOP holding a slim majority that has strong disagreements among factions of the party. “The Senate is free to put pen to paper to draft its reconciliation bill, but I can’t support House passage of the Senate changes to our budget resolution until I see the actual spending and deficit reduction plans to enact President Trump’s America First agenda,” Rep. Andy Harris, the House Freedom Caucus chair, wrote on X on Saturday.

Federal judge calls deportation of Salvadoran man in Maryland ‘wholly lawless’

Federal judge calls deportation of Salvadoran man in Maryland ‘wholly lawless’

A federal judge’s 22-page decision on Sunday called the deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia “wholly lawless.” Abrego Garcia, 29, was deported to an El Salvadoran megaprison last month for being an alleged MS-13 gang member. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the Department of Homeland Security and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S., where he was living in Maryland.  “Although the legal basis for the mass removal of hundreds of individuals to El Salvador remains disturbingly unclear, Abrego Garcia’s case is categorically different—there were no legal grounds whatsoever for his arrest, detention, or removal,” Xinis wrote.  “Nor does any evidence suggest that Abrego Garcia is being held in CECOT at the behest of Salvadoran authorities to answer for crimes in that country. Rather, his detention appears wholly lawless,” she continued.  TRUMP ADMIN SUSPENDS LAWYER IN CASE OF MARYLAND MAN MISTAKENLY DEPORTED FOR FAILING TO ‘ZEALOUSLY ADVOCATE’ Also on Sunday, Attorney General Pam Bondi doubled down on the Trump administration’s decision to deport Abrego Garcia. “We have to rely on what ICE says,” Bondi said in a “Fox News Sunday” interview. “We have to rely on what Homeland Security says. They’re our clients, and I firmly believe in the work they are doing, and we’re going to make America safe again. That was President Trump’s directive to all of us.” VANCE DOUBLES DOWN AFTER TRUMP ADMIN ADMITS ‘ERROR’ SENDING MAN TO SALVADORAN PRISON The White House has remained firm in its decision to deport Abrego Garcia following a report from The Atlantic that federal attorneys said that there was an “administrative error” in bringing him to CECOT men’s prison in El Salvador. Court filings also show Abrego Garcia came to the U.S. in 2011 at the age of 16 after fleeing gang threats in El Salvador, the outlet reported.  Abrego Garcia later married a U.S. citizen and worked in construction to support her, their son and her two children from a previous relationship. The allegations about his affiliation with MS-13 stem from a 2019 arrest outside a Maryland Home Depot store, where he and other young men were looking for work, according to The Associated Press. Abrego Garcia was arrested in Baltimore on March 12 after working a shift as a sheet metal apprentice in Baltimore and picking up his 5-year-old son, who has autism and other disabilities, from his grandmother’s house, his lawyers’ complaint stated. Fox News Digital’s Taylor Penley, Brie Stimson, Bill Mears and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

H2Go: How experts, industry leaders say US hydrogen is fuel for the future of agriculture, energy, security

H2Go: How experts, industry leaders say US hydrogen is fuel for the future of agriculture, energy, security

As the Trump administration pursues an “all of the above” energy strategy, hydrogen experts welcome the new attention and are advancing efforts to make it a top, domestically-produced power source. The Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association, one of seven “hubs” nationwide, partners with tribal, public and private concerns to build hydrogen production projects throughout their region. “Hydrogen has a lot of dexterity as a molecule, and it can be used for a host of different things,” PNWHA president Chris Green told Fox News Digital. Hydrogen can be a power source, but it more so is utilized as an energy carrier due to its periodic makeup. “It is a carrier of electrons and can store energy in that regard. But as a fuel, it’s just like any other fuel. It can be used to propel machinery, equipment and industrial processes, those kinds of things. And so it’s another sort of energy commodity product that we can make here at home domestically,” Green said. Hydrogen also has a dual role in agriculture, he said.  Fertilizer – of which much has been historically imported from now-war-torn Russia and Ukraine – is hydrogenic in makeup. Ammonium nitrate – a key ingredient – is hydrogen sourced. If the U.S. can bolster its hydrogen production, it can rely less on unreliable or adversarial economies, especially amid new tariffs. And its power-sourcing and energy-carrying nature can power equipment, mills and more. NIKOLA CEO: WE’RE THE ONLY ONES SELLING HYDROGEN TRUCKS IN THE COUNTRY With all of these important uses, Green said the U.S. has a chance to “leap ahead of everybody else if we can build out all this infrastructure.” Beginning in the aughts, there had been talk of hydrogen-powered vehicles. But the extremely flammable nature of hydrogen has kept it from being a ubiquitous fuel source like petrol. One company investing big in hydrogen, particularly in the West, is Chevron. The company said hydrogen may appeal to those worried about the energy sector’s environmental footprint. The Texas-based energy giant is “leveraging [its] strengths to safely deliver lower carbon energy in a growing world,” according to a statement. “Hydrogen can play a key role in delivering large-scale lower-carbon solutions especially where electrification of demand is not feasible,” the statement said, adding it is confident hydrogen’s prominence will grow in the near-term. Hydrogen is also used in processed foods, metallurgy and other areas. In Utah, Chevron entered into a venture with Mitsubishi called ACES Delta or “Advanced Clean Energy Storage [of] Delta [UT].” By harnessing the naturally protective state of an enormous subterranean salt cavern, the ACES Delta project currently under construction aims to produce up to 110 tons of hydrogen daily and store it at “utility scale” in the environmentally safe confines of the cavern. AMAZON SIGNS HYDROGEN SUPPLY DEAL Chevron expects the ACES Delta project to provide “delivery-scale” amounts to the Intermountain Power Agency – also based in the Beehive State – in the near term. The company also boasted of the accessibility of the hub – which is located along U.S. 50, a highway that cuts a 3,000-mile swath through the center of the country from Sacramento, California, to Washington, D.C., and on to Ocean City, Maryland. That hub also has the regional potential to power the world’s fifth-largest economy: California, which has otherwise driven out most fossil fuel refiners and producers. In his interview, Green also noted the demand for cleaner-burning jet-fuel alternatives and suggested that rather than replacing oil, it is a greener complement to sweet crude. “Sometimes, don’t think about hydrogen as replacing a bunch of other things as much as we think about it complementing and then nurturing or supporting or boosting some of these existing supply chains,” he said. “[I]f you produce a lot of it, then you’ve got optionality to support a host of different industry verticals that could benefit from it.” Hydrogen has earned rare bipartisan support, bridging a divide where the right typically resists renewables like wind and solar, and the left often opposes “Big Oil.” “Central Washington is leading the way in the all-of-the-above approach needed to achieve American energy dominance,” said Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash. “I am working with the Trump administration to ensure we protect the domestic resources we are building here at home.” Newhouse told Fox News Digital that PNWH2 has made “huge strides” in advancing technology toward safe and clean energy that decreases foreign reliance. “Supporting the hub means new jobs, new investments, and stronger domestic supply chains that fall in line with the administration’s bold energy agenda,” Newhouse said. On the left, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said in June that PNWH2 “is poised to play a leading role in growing America’s green hydrogen economy.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Investments in hydrogen have the potential to reduce emissions from the most difficult to decarbonize sectors,” added Sen. Jeffrey Merkley, D-Ore. “[W]hen done right, hydrogen can help us solve hard problems and decarbonize sectors of the economy.” In terms of agriculture’s interest in a hydrogen future, the Washington State Potato Commission told Fox News Digital that as a cornerstone of the Evergreen State and others’ economies, agriculture drives innovation and growth. “The Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub will play a crucial role in securing a local hydrogen supply for fertilizer production, helping to mitigate supply chain disruptions and rising costs that challenge the industry,” an official said. “Beyond fertilizer, hydrogen presents an opportunity to potentially fuel agricultural machinery, such as tractors and trucks. Washington’s potato farmers are committed to supporting hydrogen production in the Pacific Northwest, strengthening the future of agriculture in our region.” Fox News Digital reached out to the Energy Department for comment.