Tesla boss, Musk, loses $30 billion, trolls Trump officials as tariffs rattle global markets

Tesla and X Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk, has continued to mock officials in President Donald Trump’s administration over the controversial new tariffs, distancing himself from a policy that has rattled global markets.

Trump’s latest round of tariffs has triggered a market downturn, with stock futures slipping and analysts predicting a rough start to the week on Wall Street.

According to a CNBC analysis, Musk alone has lost over US$30 billion since the tariffs were announced.

The financial impact and ongoing volatility appear to be fueling Musk’s social media jabs at key figures behind the policy, including U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and trade advisor Peter Navarro.

The Independent reported on Monday that on Sunday, Lutnick defended the administration’s decision to impose a 10 percent tariff on the Heard and McDonald Islands—uninhabited territories near Antarctica—arguing that loopholes like this could be exploited to bypass U.S. tariffs.

“If you leave anything off the list, countries that try to arbitrage America try to go through those countries to get to us,” Lutnick said on CBS’s Face the Nation.

Musk responded to a post about Lutnick’s statement on X with a brief comment: “This is funny,” followed by a laughing emoji.

Earlier, Musk also took aim at Navarro, a Harvard-trained economist and longtime China hawk, who played a central role in shaping Trump’s trade policy.

Navarro, brought into the White House by Jared Kushner, has authored several books warning about China’s economic ambitions.

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