Just three months into Donald Trump’s presidency, his White House seems to be getting more divided from within. The recent confusion over the administration’s stance on trade tariffs is a clear example of this.
One day, Trump confidently said that the tariffs were “here to stay” and would “never change.” The very next day, he announced a sudden 90-day pause on those same tariffs.
To add to the confusion, just before this announcement, the White House said publicly that no such pause was even being considered.
This unexpected move raised a lot of questions about what’s going on behind the scenes in Trump’s team.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, two senior Cabinet members — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — waited for a moment when White House adviser Peter Navarro left the Oval Office for a meeting, and then made their move to go around him.
This report, though not confirmed by other major news outlets like NBC or MSNBC, claims that Bessent and Lutnick acted without Navarro’s knowledge to push a change in the tariff plan.
Their spokespersons later denied any internal conflict, but the story reveals a lot about the current situation in the Trump administration.
First, this is not how a functional White House is expected to operate. Normally, there should be teamwork and proper discussions before big decisions. Instead, it seems that members of Trump’s Cabinet are secretly taking steps to avoid damage from Navarro’s strict trade policies.
This also suggests that Trump may not have a full grasp of his economic plans. If senior officials feel they have to secretly take action to prevent problems, it shows a lack of strong leadership at the top.
The bigger issue here is the clear division within Trump’s team. The Journal suggests that Bessent and Lutnick now see Navarro as a threat and are working together to sideline him.
But it doesn’t stop there. Elon Musk has openly criticized Navarro, calling him a “moron” and saying he’s “dumber than a sack of bricks.” At the same time, Musk is also at odds with Bessent. And there’s more friction between Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and between Rubio and the West Wing.
It’s not unusual for there to be some differences within any administration, but what’s surprising is how quickly all of this has come out into the open.
Normally, it takes years for such tensions to build and become public. With Trump, it’s only been three months since he took office, and the divisions are already deep.
In such situations, a strong president usually steps in, calms things down, and unites the team. That’s what leadership is about. But in Trump’s case, it seems like he is standing on the sidelines, watching these fights unfold without doing much to fix them. The more he stays out of it, the more these divisions may grow.
What this situation reveals is not just policy confusion — it shows a serious lack of internal coordination, rising personal rivalries, and a president who doesn’t seem interested in keeping his own team together.
That’s a risky way to run any government, especially when important decisions like trade policies can affect the global economy.