Peter Navarro will return to the White House in President-elect Donald Trump’s second term in a senior trade role, Trump announced Wednesday.
Navarro, who helmed the White House National Trade Council during Trump’s first term, will serve as senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, according to a pair of posts on Truth Social from the incoming president. The former White House aide was released from federal prison in July following a four-month sentence for defying a federal subpoena after he failed to hand over documents to the House committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
In his Truth Social posts, Trump touted Navarro’s role in negotiating the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and retooling the free trade agreement with South Korea during his first term, adding that Navarro “moved every one of my Tariff and Trade actions FAST.”
“[F]ew were more effective or tenacious than Peter in enforcing my two sacred rules, Buy American, Hire American,” Trump wrote.
Navarro, 75, has been an outspoken China hawk and a staunch advocate of using tariffs to lift the U.S. economy. He has authored multiple books on the U.S.-China trade relationship including “Death by China” and “The Coming China Wars.” He also penned a chapter in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 report on what he called “fair trade.”
This summer, he used his speech at the Republican National Convention to rail against undocumented immigration and those who had a hand in his imprisonment, a sentiment Trump echoed in his Truth Social posts on Wednesday.
Navarro, Trump argued, “was treated horribly by the Deep State, or whatever else you would like to call it.”
Navarro joins a Trump trade team that, if all his picks are confirmed, will consist of Jamieson Greer as U.S. Trade Representative, Scott Bessent at Treasury, and Howard Lutnick at Commerce – who has been tasked with leading the “Tariff and Trade agenda.”
Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s former USTR who steered the president’s trade policy during his first term and has been advising the transition team on trade, has not received an official role so far, fueling speculation that he is out of favor in Trump’s political orbit, as Politico reported this week.
“The Senior Counselor position leverages Peter's broad range of White House experience,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social announcement. “His mission will be to help successfully advance and communicate the Trump Manufacturing, Tariff, and Trade Agendas.”
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