US president-elect Donald Trump has named Peter Navarro, his previous economic adviser sanctioned by Beijing since 2021, as senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing in his next White House term.
Navarro, 75, will be tasked with helping to “successfully advance and communicate the Trump manufacturing, tariff and trade agendas”, Trump posted on social media on Wednesday.
“During my first term, few were more effective or tenacious than Peter in enforcing my two sacred rules, Buy American, Hire American,” wrote Trump, adding that the new position would leverage Navarro’s “broad range of White House experience”.
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In Trump’s first term, Navarro served as director of the newly created White House National Trade Council. He has been a staunch proponent of protectionist US trade policies.
He was considered a key architect of America’s trade war with China and was among 28 senior officials sanctioned by Beijing a day after US President Joe Biden was sworn into office in January 2021.
The Chinese foreign ministry at the time said Navarro and the other sanctioned Americans “seriously violated China’s sovereignty and are primarily responsible for China-related issues”.
Those sanctioned were prohibited from entering Chinese territory, including Hong Kong, while companies affiliated with them were to face business restrictions in China.
Navarro’s selection makes him the second member of Trump’s new administration to have been sanctioned by Beijing.
He joins Marco Rubio, a US senator from Florida and China hawk sanctioned twice by Beijing, whom Trump selected as the next secretary of state. Rubio’s nomination awaits confirmation by the US Senate.
Trump has already named cabinet secretaries and a national security adviser who have voiced a need to confront China.
They include Mike Waltz, a US congressman from Florida tapped for national security adviser, and Jamieson Greer, chosen as the next US trade representative.
Greer is an international trade lawyer and protégé of Robert Lighthizer, a protectionist who served as trade representative during Trump’s first term.
Navarro, a Harvard-educated economist, gained notoriety for his 2011 book Death by China in which he accused China of currency manipulation and deliberately harming Americans with dangerous consumer goods.
In his book Navarro recommended measures including stopping Beijing from pressuring American companies to transfer technology to their Chinese partners. The Trump administration would follow many of his recommendations.
In January, Navarro was sentenced to four months in federal prison after being found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from a committee investigating the January 6, 2021 US Capitol attack by Trump supporters.
Shortly after his release from prison in July, Navarro spoke on stage at the Republican National Convention, where he told the crowd: “I went to prison so you won’t have to.”
Less than seven weeks before his January 20 inauguration, Trump has continued to reveal more picks for key posts in his coming administration.
Among them are Michael Whatley, staying on for another term as chairman of the Republican National Committee. Whatley ran the committee during the 2024 election campaign along with Lara Trump, who is married to Trump’s son Eric.
Also on Wednesday, the president-elect chose conservative lawyer Paul Atkins to run the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The regulatory agency oversees securities exchanges, securities brokers and dealers, investment advisers and mutual funds.
Atkins served on the SEC during the George W. Bush administration from 2002 to 2008 before founding his consultancy firm, Patomak Global Partners.
Atkins has questioned the SEC’s crackdown on cryptocurrency firms and is expected to be friendlier to the market.
Other announcements on Wednesday included Daniel Driscoll as Army secretary, Jared Isaacman as Nasa administrator and Adam Boehler as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.
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