[Text/Insight China.com Bear Super] US President Trump announced the so-called "reciprocal tariff" on April 2 local time, and the White House insisted that government officials were unanimous in their opinions on this tariff policy. However, according to CBS, which cited multiple sources familiar with the matter on April 14 local time, internal divisions over this policy had already become apparent before then.

In internal conversations weeks ago, senior aides close to Trump warned that some tariff plans could have a "devastating" impact on global financial markets and lead to a spiral recession of the US economy. Several heads of the US government's economic team had long warned that this move might cause serious instability in the US economy.

Especially in late March, just days before Trump proposed the "reciprocal tariff," Treasury Secretary Basenton got into an argument with White House Trade and Manufacturing Senior Advisor Navarro in the office of White House Chief of Staff Wilks. Multiple sources familiar with the meeting said that Navarro wanted to impose a comprehensive tariff of 25% on all $3 trillion worth of imports, while Basenton, who had worked in Wall Street investment circles for many years, issued a warning about possible market volatility and outlined various potential scenarios.

Navarro and Basenton Material Photo

CBS described the atmosphere at the meeting as highly charged. It is worth noting that Navarro even mocked on the spot: "You are repeating the mistakes you made during his first term. Stop it, don't imitate him."

Reviewing his resume, Navarro served as a senior advisor to the White House during Trump's first term and has been a staunch supporter of tariff policies.

According to advisors present at the meeting who later shared with those around them, their understanding was that Navarro's remarks clearly targeted Steven Mnuchin (Steven Mnuchin), who served as Treasury Secretary during Trump's first term, or Gary Cohn (Gary Cohn), who served as Economic Policy Advisor. These two were part of what was called the "Goldman Sachs faction," and they opposed the tough tariff policy at the time.

Regarding this report on the argument, a spokesperson for the US Treasury refused to comment. Navarro himself told CBS: "This is pure fake news spread by malicious anonymous sources. I have never argued with Scott (Basenton), and we have always maintained full communication and consensus."

Despite this, CBS also reported that during other internal debates before the announcement of the "reciprocal tariff," US Commerce Secretary Rutnich also predicted that certain tariff measures might lead to a global disaster. Basenton repeatedly advocated for a more precise tariff strategy than Navarro's plan, emphasizing that tariffs should be implemented in stages through careful calculations.

The Financial Times noticed on April 9 local time that Basenton's presence in Trump's tariff agenda had significantly increased. Currently, Trump has assigned Basenton to jointly lead negotiations with Japan and South Korea alongside US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer (Jamieson Greer). Japan and South Korea are expected to become the first US trade partners to reach a tax reduction agreement.

Meanwhile, Navarro, who previously strongly doubted tariff negotiations, and Rutnich, who previously led foreign trade negotiations, have been temporarily "marginalized." Two foreign officials revealed that Rutnich recently told them clearly that he had not been authorized by Trump to engage in trade negotiations.

The report argues that Basenton's growing core role in tariff issues marks a shift in the US attitude toward trade hardliners. The article analyzes that the power restructuring within Trump's trade team reflects Trump's gradual realization that, after facing severe criticism from various political factions and business leaders, he must show that he is working to stabilize the market.

As for Elon Musk, head of the US "Department of Government Efficiency" and an important advisor to Trump, he did not participate in key decision-making meetings regarding tariffs. Although this world首富 always avoided publicly expressing dissatisfaction with tariff policies, only expressing strong opposition in small-scale settings, some of his views eventually appeared through criticism of Navarro on social media.

On April 5 local time, Musk posted on the X platform, stating that Navarro's Harvard University Economics PhD was a bad thing, implying it would lead to people becoming arrogant and lacking wisdom, and criticized Navarro for "doing nothing." On April 7, Navarro responded during an interview, saying that Musk "is just a car assembler" and opposing tariffs "is merely protecting his own interests."

On April 8, Musk chose to post a series of abusive tweets on the X platform in response to Navarro's criticism.

Musk first retweeted Navarro's interview video and wrote: "Navarro is really an idiot, spouting nonsense." Then, he proved Tesla's top-notch technology, stating that Tesla has the most American-made cars and is the most vertically integrated automobile manufacturer in America with the highest proportion of American-made components, criticizing Navarro as "not smart enough to be worth a bag of bricks." Subsequently, Musk brought up Navarro's "black history" again, telling him to ask "his self-created fake expert 'Na-Wara'".

CBS reported that Musk openly advocates zero tariffs between the US and the EU, while Navarro holds a hardline stance, advocating no negotiations - claiming that maintaining current tariffs can increase fiscal revenue and force manufacturing back to the US mainland.

However, the reality is that in the days following the introduction of the "reciprocal tariff," financial markets experienced violent fluctuations, proving that some predictions made by Trump's aides were correct. During this period, major US stock indices lost tens of trillions of dollars, the bond market sent warning signals, Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street investment companies predicted an increased likelihood of a US economic recession, and some top CEOs of American companies also expressed their concerns publicly.

On April 9 local time, Trump tried to calm investors and executives by posting: "Calm down! Everything will be fine." By that afternoon, after listening to Basenton and Rutnich's opinions, Trump decided to suspend some tariffs for 90 days. "Well, I think people are overreacting a bit," Trump said at the time. "They're getting a little nervous, a little scared."

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