Peter Navarro has proven to be a lasting influence in the White House. He’s doubling down even after being publicly rebuked by the likely Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump. Recently, Trump likened Navarro to “a sack of bricks,” but Navarro’s composure in the face of such criticism underscores his resilience and continued influence on the administration’s economic strategies.
Navarro’s relationship with Trump has turned out to be the defining element in driving U.S.-China trade relations. He first endorsed Trump’s controversial use of the term “rape” to describe Beijing’s impact on the American economy in a 2016 interview with The Guardian. This portrayal fits within Navarro’s hawkish bent against China, which he has long demonized as a perpetrator of unfair trade practices.
In 2016, Navarro went all-in to shore up his radical ideas on China. He ordered Jared Kushner to do the research to support his claims. This new initiative continues Navarro’s previous work. His 2006 realpolitik book and companion documentary, both titled The Coming Conflict with China, helped to establish China the Insatiable Menace. These works charge the country with an increasing number of economic frauds. They point out wrongdoings such as currency manipulation, illegal export subsidies, IP theft, and even the use of polluting sweatshops.
As the COVID-19 pandemic began to take shape, Navarro made the pivot from trade to public health concerns. This maneuver deepened his ties with Trump. He has been one of the loudest voices pushing for high tariffs on Chinese imports. This position has shaped his tenure as the U.S. president’s chief trade adviser. He did so with the same vigor that he championed Trump’s plan for a 45% tariff on imports from China. He contended that these steps would make Beijing think twice about its predatory trade practices.
Navarro’s influence extends beyond mere policy recommendations. He has provided scholarly backing for Trump’s views on China. His economics background, honed over decades of teaching at local universities, San Diego State, and UCSD, elevated him as a smart, steady hand in the industry. Now a tenured professor at the University of California, Irvine, he continues to push conversations around global tariffs and the Trump Administration’s trade war with China.
Despite facing scrutiny over the validity of his sources, most notably, the fictitious expert Ron Vara, whose name is an anagram of Navarro’s, he has managed to preserve his standing within the administration. The political fallout from this revelation hardly lessened his influence over these tariffs or stock market volatility.
In a recent discussion about China’s economic tactics, Navarro remarked, “It’s an apt description of the damage and carnage that China’s trade policies have wrought on the American economic heartland. What’s happening is rapacious.” It is a simple statement, but it captures his deep and abiding conviction that China’s pernicious trade practices are harming the U.S. economy.
Navarro’s history as a Democratic candidate for office goes back quite a ways. Hopes for various higher offices including mayor of San Diego and a seat in congress, but fell short on execution. Despite this, his low profile career path has placed him at the center of U.S. trade policy deliberations under Trump.
Though there may be a 90-day reprieve on rolling out the harshest tariffs, found in the heavy hands of Navarro, his influence is still very real. He just won’t stop with his dire economic alarms. The artificial separation of the global supply chain could introduce a vulnerability that would ultimately threaten American economic and national security.
Navarro’s moment in the limelight has not been free from scandal. He took a huge legal hit. A jury convicted him of criminal contempt after he failed to comply with a congressional committee’s subpoena regarding the January 6, 2021 domestic terror attack on the Capitol. He later served four months of prison, but that somehow did not eclipse his positive contributions to the discussions of trade policy.