President-elect Donald Trump announced he has appointed Peter Navarro to serve as his senior counselor for trade and manufacturing in his second administration. He served as director of the National Trade Council, and director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy during the first Trump administration. As stated in a Trump-Vance transition press release:
I am pleased to announce that Peter Navarro, a man who was treated horribly by the Deep State, or whatever else you would like to call it, will serve as my Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing. During my First Term, few were more effective or tenacious than Peter in enforcing my two sacred rules, Buy American, Hire American. He helped me renegotiate unfair Trade Deals like NAFTA and the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), and moved every one of my Tariff and Trade actions FAST.
In the announcement, Trump mentioned Navarro’s treatment during the Biden administration, noting that he is “a man who was treated horribly by the Deep State,” referencing his prosecution for contempt of Congress, after which he served a four-month prison sentence earlier this year.
Trump noted that part of Navarro’s role will to be implementing his second administration’s tariff agenda, stating:
The Senior Counselor position leverages Peter’s broad range of White House experience, while harnessing his extensive Policy analytic and Media skills. His mission will be to help successfully advance and communicate the Trump Manufacturing, Tariff, and Trade Agendas.
Peter is not just a superb, Harvard-trained Economist, he is a noted author of more than a dozen bestselling books on strategic business management and unfair Trade. He did a superb job for the American People in my First Term. Peter will do even better as Senior Counselor to protect American Workers, and truly Make American Manufacturing Great Again.
Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) responded to Trump’s announcement, and said Navarro will put U.S. manufacturing first, stating in a post on X:
