The architect of the trade war .. Learn about Navarro penetrating the mind of Trump

Economist Peter Navarro became the chief economic adviser to US President Donald Trump. Navarro's obsession with China is perhaps the pivotal factor behind the US-China trade war.

In a report published in the Spanish newspaper Confidencial, the writer Daniel Erietti said that both national security adviser John Bolton and economic adviser Larry Kudlow - as well as acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvani - strongly opposed the idea of ​​trade war against China about two hours after the announcement.

However, Trump did not back down, tweeting on Twitter to announce his intention to impose a 10 percent surcharge on Chinese goods worth $ 300 billion.

The writer pointed to the moment of silence at the beginning of the White House trade adviser Peter Navarro and one of the most controversial economists in the world today.

Navarro embarks on Trump's trade protectionism and sees no embarrassment in tariffs, especially if it is directed against China, one of his biggest concerns.

He believes that being cautious about the "Asian threat" posed by the East's economic rivals (Japan in the 1980s and today's China) is among Trump's traditional beliefs.

He pointed out that the consensus between Trump and Navarro's views has been taken for granted by the ideas they defend.

Death by China
Navarro, born in 1949, is a Harvard graduate with a doctorate in economics and has written 13 books, three of which are devoted to highlighting China and its "bad" business practices.

The headlines of these books illustrate Navarro's attitude toward the country, such as "Crouching Tiger: What Does China's Military Rise Into the World" or "Wars of the Future with China" or more widely "Death by China"?

In his latest book, Navarro said, "US companies cannot compete with their Chinese counterparts because they are actually competing with the Chinese government."

The author argues that Navarro's theory is based mainly on protectionism, by working to reduce the deficit and employing Washington all the tools available to prove to Beijing that the United States is the world's first economic power.

Navarro often inspects product labels to make sure they are not manufactured in China.

The writer said that Navarro considers himself one of the advocates of free trade, but announced that his position began to change when he realized that many of his students in the evening shift have lost their day jobs.

Navarro concluded that unfair Chinese competition is the cause of this situation.

Although he does not speak Chinese and spent a modest period there, Navarro specializes in studying Chinese affairs with very critical eyes.

Carries out Navarro's plans
Trump has already heard of Navarro, as he read his book "Wars of the Future with China" in 2011, which helped him form an idea of ​​Navarro's intellectual attitudes.

Navarro offered Trump to help with his campaign and develop his economic platform with international investor Wilbur Ross, who is now commerce minister.

The writer said: After Trump won the presidential election, Navarro joined the government, to occupy a post created specifically for him as president of the National Trade Council, which does not exist yet.

He also noted that Trump began to implement his ideas as soon as he entered the White House, where he announced the withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Although the extent of Navarro's involvement in this decision is not clear, he certainly saw it as a victory.

Trump also considered withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but Canada and Mexico renegotiated the decision with great effort, the writer says.

While some of these measures have injected significant capital into the US economy, which has undergone a major recovery, the damage to the confidence of the rest of the world in the United States is hard to estimate.

Opposition inside the house
Gary Cohen, Trump's chief economic adviser and former CEO of Goldman Sachs, has allied with his former chief of staff Rob Porter to prevent the president from implementing many of Navarro's most extreme decisions.

Cohen has on several occasions made clear his position on tariffs: If you have to spend more on the products you need to live, you don't have much to spend on the services you want to enjoy.

According to the writer, Cohen believes that the trade deficit is not bad because it allows the country to allocate its resources to sectors that really contribute to the prosperity of the United States, such as services and technology.

He explained that the new White House chief of staff (Gen. John Kelly) at the time realized the problem posed by Navarro after his appointment in the summer of 2017. As a result, he resorted to the creation of a hierarchy that prevents Navarro from reaching the president directly without going through his superiors, and the National Trade Council was included in institutions He became subject to Cohen's authority, as the Spanish newspaper report confirms.

Fighting violently for the principle of "America first"
The writer reported that Navarro unbeknownst to Cohen had a meeting with the president and chief executives of steel companies at the end of February 2018. A week later, Trump issued a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent on aluminum.

In contrast, Cohen submitted his resignation after losing the battle of tariffs because Navarro won victory thanks to his ideas identical to those of Trump.

"There are few people who understand the president and Navarro from a political point of view," David Bossi, who worked with Navarro during the campaign and in government, told the Atlantic magazine.

The US has not won the trade war against China at this time, the writer said. Although their confrontation creates all sorts of distortions to the US economy, ordinary Americans have yet to notice the implications.

By contrast, wages have risen in the United States, especially less qualified jobs, while unemployment has fallen slightly.