The White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said that "boys will be boys" after Elon Musk took to X to call Peter Navarro, a long-time aide to Donald Trump, a "moron" who is "dumber than a sack of bricks."

The public spat between Musk and White House trade advisor Navarro has shed light on a rift between key Trump aides over the US president's decision to slap tariffs on nearly all of the country's trading partners.

Navarro is widely seen as the architect behind Trump's trade policies, which are designed to boost manufacturing in the US. 

But the tariffs have spooked global markets and stoked fears of a global recession.

Musk, who has led Trump's efforts to slash government spending at the helm of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), attacked Navarro on X a day after he had described the billionaire's company Tesla as a "car assembler" that relied on "cheap foreign" imports.

"Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false," Musk said in response to a clip of Navarro's interview on CNBC on Monday. "Tesla has the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks."

"Look, these are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and on tariffs," White House spokeswoman Leavitt said. "Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue."

MEANWHILE:

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will visit Washington DC next week for tariff talks with US President Donald Trump.

European Union leaders are scrambling to avoid a trade war with the US, after Trump said he would impose a 20% tariff on almost all imports from the bloc. The 27 members of the EU are already facing 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum as well as cars.

Meloni told a meeting of Italian business leaders that she backs the European Commission's proposal of a "zero-for-zero" tariff deal to avert a trade war that she said "does not suit anyone."

"This is the negotiation that must see us all committed at all levels, which sees us committed and which commits me as I will be in Washington next April 17," Meloni said in her speech, according to her office.

"I think (tariffs) are an absolutely wrong decision on the part of the Trump administration. The economies of Western nations are strongly interconnected. Such hard-hitting protectionist policies will end up hurting Europe as much as the US," she said.

Meloni, a nationalist who leads the far-right Brothers of Italy party, was the only EU leader to be invited to Trump's inauguration in January.

She has sought to maintain positive relations with Trump despite the economic disruption his tariffs have caused.

Earlier on Tuesday, Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani highlighted the "good relations" Rome has with the Trump administration. 

"Our work could be useful in convincing the Americans to reach a positive solution," Tajani said.

https://www.dw.com/en/trump-tariffs-china-vows-

to-fight-new-50-tariff-threat/live-72169703

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