And I agree. He probably tried to talk Trump out of the tariffs, but Trump didn't want to have any of it since he's clearly convinced this is a great idea.
The tariffs are a terrible idea for the US. Global trade has been set up to benefit the US. Take beef for instance, because it is one thing that I've seen a lot of bitching about.
US beef is fucking shit. You have the mad cow stuff, the feed lotting, and excessive use of growth hormones which doesn't make the beef better, it just makes it grow quicker. The reason for this is that those producing beef aren't farmers. It is big corporate. And it does produce mass slop beef that is cheap. However this doesn't mean that the US doesn't have good beef, truth is the US probably enjoys the best beef in the world, the premium beef from Australia, Brazil and Japan is almost entirely sold to the US markets. Here in Australia less than 1% of the premium ends up in the domestic market, almost all of the rest goes to the US. And given trade agreements the US has been getting that premium product cheaper and in larger amounts than any other country. Yet there is bitching "why don't these countries buy US beef?". Which is stupid because all of these countries are importing US products at 2 to 3 times the amount they're exporting to the US, and why would those countries buy the shit when the grade down from premium being used for their own domestic products is 10 times better than lot yard grown slop.
That is just 1 product. There are 1000s of products and commodities that this same principle applies to. You buy them from others and then sell those other countries 2-3 times the value of your top end and desired products. The system has been set up so the US not only gets to always have the best, but is making the most amount of profit out of any trade between the US and any other country. And Trump has come in and decided to fuck this system which benefited the US up, which he said he was going to all through the election.
Elon, once again, is fucking retarded. He's bitching about Trump doing what he said he was going to do in the election, an election which Elon paid a quarter of a billion dollars to help Trump win. The dopey prick paid a lot of money and ruined his reputation to bring in a President who is making decisions that are going to cost Musk's already under pressure businesses billions of dollars, something that Trump said all the way a long he was going to do. The man is an idiot who let his need to be admired and in the headlines fuck up the comfortable and profitable grift he had going on.