Former Bureau of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Secretary Peter Navarro speaks on stage with his wife Bonnie on the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 17, 2024.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
Peter Navarro, who will become President-elect Donald Trump’s chief trade adviser, said Tuesday that Trump’s plan for broad tariffs and deep tax cuts will fuel inflation, despite warnings from some experts. He insisted that there would be no increase in the budget deficit.
Navarro said Trump’s first term in the White House proved his point.
“To stop dumping, we imposed significant tariffs on China, steel, aluminum, dishwashers, solar power, and raised many countervailing duties,” Navarro said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” ” he said.
“None of that resulted in zero inflation,” he said.
President Trump imposed Tariffs on China during his first term. President Joe Biden’s administration kept many of them in place.
“So I think you can just play all the interviews that were done on CNBC with people who were in the first period and had their hair on fire because they were worried about inflation,” Navarro said.
“That never happened. It’s the same movie this time,” added the 75-year-old China hawk.
Mr. Navarro, who President Trump nominated as senior trade and manufacturing adviser in early December, blamed “fiscal irresponsibility” for continued inflation during Mr. Biden’s term.
During his recent campaign, President Trump said he wanted to enact larger, broader tariffs as well as target additional tariffs on imports from China.
Since winning the election, he has threatened to impose additional tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
President Trump has also proposed an extensive list of tax cuts, including further reductions in 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 expire at the end of 2025.
The national debt has increased Even before the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, it was during President Trump’s first term.
Asked how Trump hopes to rein in the budget deficit while pushing for new tax cuts, Navarro on Tuesday again cited the example of the first administration.
Navarro argued that before the pandemic, the United States was “steadily gaining more and more power in the economy.”
“And if we had managed to get through the fourth year without the pandemic, I think we would have seen a much different financial picture at the end of the first term,” he said.
Navarro argued that economic growth next year will come from boosting domestic oil drilling efforts, predicting “significant cost cuts within the government to eliminate fiscal gluts.”
“We are keenly aware of the need to engage in fiscal responsibility and prudent Fed policy that helps Americans get what they need,” he said.
