Trump trade adviser’s media tour becomes a roast as economy tanks
Donald Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro has a lot of damage control to do these days—and he seems to be fraying at the edges. His boss’s ill-advised and destructive trade war with our ally Canada and the general chaos surrounding the second Trump administration have brought enormous uncertainty into our economy.
Navarro’s current job description seems to consist of stringing together a series of excuses for why tariffs, which hurt working families, are beneficial to Americans. He earned this position after being convicted and serving fourth months in prison for refusing to comply with a House subpoena.
On Tuesday, he had his work cut out for him after Trump went on a social media rant and threatened a 50% tariff on steel and aluminum from Canada, which sent the stock market into a nosedive.
During a press briefing, Navarro had a tough time answering a Sky News reporter who asked him a series of simple questions about the contradictory messages coming out of the White House regarding its trade war with Canada.
Navarro: So stop with the rhetoric. Okay? Just stop that crap.
Reporter: But [Trump] does seem to be changing his mind all the time—
Navarro: Stop that crap.
Navarro threatened to end the press conference and whined over reporters wanting clarity about WTF Trump is doing.
He then appeared on CNBC to try and calm market watchers, again blaming Canada for its reaction to Trump’s continued attacks on its sovereignty. Navarro pointed the finger at Ontario Premier Doug Ford for responding to Trump’s initial 25% tariff with his own surcharge on electricity being exported from Ontario.
“This guy’s firing these big cannons at us,” Navarro boasted after Ford temporarily suspended the planned 25% surcharge on electricity. “He got a bazooka back at him,” Navarro said. That “bazooka” was Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick capitulating and agreeing to renew trade talks.
Navarro added that Ford and other Canadian officials need to “tamp down the rhetoric.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt must have missed the memo about tamping down the rhetoric, as she obliviously told reporters on Tuesday that Trump’s foreign policy stance is “that Canadians would benefit greatly from becoming the 51st state of the United States of America.”
A frazzled Navarro ended the day by appearing on Fox News, where creepy sexist Jesse Watters asked the trade adviser to soothe his audience.
“You get some panic there. The day traders make out, and then the media kind of amplifies it—run around with their hair on fire,” Navarro said. “We are in the most beautiful bullish time right now. We’re moving in a transition clearly from Bidenomics.”
Is anyone feeling soothed yet?