On July 17, 2024, Peter Navarro, Director of the Office of U.S. Trade and Manufacturing Policy, spoke on stage with his “wife Bonnie” on the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Feather Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
Peter Navarro, who is set to become President-elect Donald Trump’s top trade adviser, said on Tuesday that Trump’s plan for broad tariffs and deep tax cuts would not spur economic growth despite warnings from some experts. Expand or increase the deficit.
Navarro said Trump’s first term in the White House proved his point.
“We have high tariffs on China, on steel, on aluminum, on dishwashers, on solar, and a lot of countervailing duties to stop dumping,” Navarro said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“We have zero inflation,” he said.
Trump imposed impose tariffs on china during his first term. President Joe Biden’s administration has retained many of them.
“So I would say just go back and show all the first-semester interviews on CNBC where people’s hair was on fire and they were worried about inflation,” Navarro said.
The 75-year-old China hawk added: “This has never happened before and it’s the same movie this time.”
Navarro, who was appointed by Trump as his senior adviser on trade and manufacturing in early December, believes that inflation during Biden’s term was caused by “fiscal irresponsibility.”
Trump said during the recent campaign that he wanted to impose larger, broader tariffs and impose additional targeted duties on imports from China.
Since winning the election, he has issued additional tariff threats against Mexico and Canada.
Trump has also proposed a series of tax cuts, including further lowering the corporate tax rate and eliminating taxes on tips for service workers and Social Security benefits for seniors.
He also vowed to extend tax cuts enacted during his first term, some of which are set to expire at the end of 2025.
National debt increases During Trump’s first term, even before the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.
When asked about how Trump hopes to control the deficit while seeking new tax cuts, Navarro again pointed to the example of the first administration on Tuesday.
Navarro believes that before the pandemic, the U.S. “economy was steadily strengthening.”
“If we had a clean fourth year without the pandemic, I think you would see a very different fiscal picture at the end of the first term,” he said.
Navarro claimed that economic growth in the next term will come from domestic oil drilling work and predicted “significant cost savings within the government to eliminate fiscal excesses.”
“We are acutely aware of the need for fiscally responsible and prudent Fed policy to help the American people afford the things they need,” he said.
About The Author
