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Has Musk broken ranks with Trump over tariffs?

(Photo by ROBIN LEGRAND/AFP via Getty Images)

Uh oh. There’s trouble in Trumpland. Leader of the President’s Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk has taken to his social media site today to post a video by Milton Friedman lauding the virtues of free markets and multi-stage supply chains – showing the US economist praising the ‘magic’ of the ‘essential’ free market and international trade. Less than a week after Trump imposed controversial new tariffs on around 90 countries across the world, the post has been viewed by some as a dig at the new President’s policy. Talk about trouble in paradise…

It’s not the first intervention Musk has made about Trump’s Liberation Day decision-making. On Saturday, the tech billionaire backed an eventual end to all tariffs and voiced his support for the creation of a free trade zone between the European Union and the US. Speaking to a congress organised by the deputy prime minister of Italy, Matteo Salvini, Musk remarked: ‘At the end of the day, 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.’ More than that, Musk took a pop at Trump adviser and tariff architect Peter Navarro over the weekend – hitting back at a Twitter user who lauded the adviser for having been Harvard educated, with Musk slamming it as a ‘bad thing’. How very interesting…

With reports that Musk will step away from his role in DOGE in coming weeks, the businessman’s latest move suggests he is becoming a little more relaxed about diverging from The Donald’s political agenda. Watch the clip here:

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Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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