PANews reported on April 8 that according to the Washington Post, Musk recently privately requested President Trump to oppose his new round of tariffs on China, but failed to change his policy. Trump threatened this week to impose a 50% tariff on Chinese imports, in addition to the previously announced 34% tariff. Musk then posted a video on the social platform X in which Milton Friedman (economist Milton Friedman) explained global trade cooperation, which was seen as a public opposition to the tariff policy.