Elon Musk's brother criticizes Trump for tariffs
Donald Trump (photo: Getty Images)
On Monday, Elon Musk's brother, Kimbal Musk, criticized US President Donald Trump for his tariff policy, reports NBC News.
According to him, Trump's tariff strategy represents a constant tax for Americans.
"Who would have thought that Trump was actually the most high tax American President in generations. Through his tariff strategy, Trump has implemented a structural, permanent tax on the American consumer," Kimbal wrote on the social media platform X, which belongs to his brother.
He added that even if Trump manages to create new jobs through tariffs, prices in the country will still remain high. According to him, the consumption tax will remain in the form of higher prices, since the US cannot produce everything.
He said that a consumption tax also meant less consumption, which would lead to fewer jobs. This, in turn, would result in even less consumption and fewer jobs. He emphasized that America had incredible strengths and should be focusing on these strengths, rather than being forced to play to its weaknesses. He concluded that the same applied to the rest of the world.
NBC notes that Kimbal Musk is a member of the board of directors of Tesla, where Elon Musk serves as CEO. The two brothers founded a tech startup in the 1990s called Zip2, which launched their business careers.
The media also added that Kimbal Musk identified himself as a registered Democrat last year, unlike his brother, who aligned himself with Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" political movement.
Trump's tarrifs
Last week, Donald Trump announced tariffs on imports from nearly all of the US's trading partners. Some tariffs took effect on April 5, while higher tariffs against other countries (about 60 nations) will come into force tomorrow, April 9.
The following day, it became known that the tariffs imposed by Trump hit the US stock market. Despite losses in the trillions of dollars, the White House leader did not back down from his tariff policy, comparing it to medicine.
"I don't want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something," he said.
Yesterday, Trump once again reaffirmed the new tariff policy of Washington but emphasized that he is ready for dialogue with countries seeking more favorable trade terms.
According to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessen, more than 70 countries have already reached out to Washington for negotiations.
