April 11, 2025 | White House Trade and Tariff Advisor Navarro Could Become a Scapegoat

Dr. Peter Navarro is the Harvard-educated PhD economist behind President Trump’s radical reciprocal tariff plan. Navarro pushed Trump to impose higher tariffs on almost every country, including an island that is inhabited only by penguins.

But signs of disagreement over trade are mounting as Trump’s aggressive tariff moves trigger retaliation from many exporters, including China, Canada, and others.

Will Trump turn his back on Navarro and push him out of the White House?

Navarro, 73 years old, is the president’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing. He was in Trump’s first term as Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy.

Source: Bonnie Cash/UPI

He has written sixteen books on trade, economics, China, trade wars and tariffs. In 2023 he penned a proposal called “The Case for Fair Trade” which was published in the Project 2025 manifesto.

In the chapter, Navarro writes that “America’s record on trade — specifically America’s chronic and ever-expanding trade deficit — says that America is the globe’s biggest trade loser and a victim of unfair, unbalanced, and nonreciprocal trade”.

He has suggested that “when a country runs a trade deficit by importing more than it exports, this subtracts from growth.” There are no mainstream economists that agree with this statement.

Navarro explains that China is trying to subvert the U.S. with its trade surplus, to move manufacturing of key industries outside of the U.S. and become a significant holder of assets such as U.S. government bonds and equities. Navarro asserts that the U.S. could “lose a broader war for freedom and prosperity, not by shots fired but by American cash registers ringing up ‘Made in China’ products … and lose a broader hot war because it sent its defense industrial base abroad.”

“Navarro said Xi would call” – Source: X (Formerly, Twitter)

In Trump’s first term Navarro argued that no countries would retaliate against U.S. tariffs “for the simple reason that we are the most lucrative and biggest market in the world.”

But in June 2018 at the G7 summit when Justin Trudeau said that Canada would retaliate against U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum Navarro snapped there was “a special place in hell” for Trudeau. The next summit is scheduled for June 2025 in Kananaskis, Alberta in Canada. It should be interesting if Trump brings Navarro as his trade advisor.

In Trump’s second term Navarro continued with his harsh criticism of trade with Canada, Mexico and China. Navarro was the main force pushing for the reciprocal tariffs that were enacted by the U.S. in April 2025.

In the last few days Elon Musk has criticized Navarro, saying that Navarro is “truly a moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks”.

Many large U.S. companies, like Tesla, are exposed to China. Tesla operates a large factory there. Apple contractors make components in China and Taiwan and iPhone sales in China are important for Apple.

And Justin Trudeau was right. Nations that are attacked with tariffs in trade wars will retaliate as they did in Trump’s first term, and as they are again in 2025.

Hilliard MacBeth

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Hilliard MacBeth April 11th, 2025

Posted In: Hilliard's Weekend Notebook

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