'Tried to dissuade him, but unsuccessful': Elon Musk on Trump tariffs in Nikhil Kamath’s podcast

Elon Musk, speaking to Zerodha cofounder Nikhil Kamath on the People by WTF podcast, revealed that he had tried to dissuade United States President Donald Trump from imposing tariffs but was unsuccessful.

"I mean, the President has made it clear he loves tariffs. You know, I've tried to dissuade him from this point of view, but unsuccessfully," said Elon Musk.

“I think generally free trade is better, is more efficient. Tariffs tend to create distortions in markets,” he said, adding that barriers make little sense even at a basic level. “Would you want tariffs between you and everyone else at an individual level? That would make life very difficult. Would you want tariffs between each city? No — that would be very annoying. Would you want tariffs between each state within the United States? That would be disastrous for the economy. So then why do you want tariffs between countries?”

Trump tariffs impact:

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs of 10% or higher on imports from most major trading partners disrupted international commerce through much of the year, spurring many American importers to front-load orders to avoid paying the import taxes, as well as shifting demand away from markets where the duties are the highest.
 

US goods imports from China, for instance, sank 22% through August this year, but year-to-date shipments from markets including Vietnam, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan all gained more than 20%, according to data released in Washington this month. According to the WTO’s most recent forecast, made on Oct. 7, world trade volume growth this year is expected to be 2.4%, slower than the 2.8% pace posted in 2024. The outlook for next year anticipates a sharp slowdown, to 0.5% growth, the organiza ..
 

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