'Did you anticipate this?' Trump adviser put on the spot over tariff financial chaos
Donald Trump's Senior Counselor for Trade, Peter Navarro, faced a blizzard of questions on CNN on Saturday morning as he attempted to put a happy face on the president's trade war with the rest of the world.
Speaking with host Michael Smerconish, the Trump insider was put on the spot over the wreckage on Wall Street as the Dow Jones slid downward over 4,000 points since Navarro's boss announced his sweeping tariff plan.
During the animated back and forth, the CNN host held up the front page of the New York Times which proclaimed that Trump's tariffs "send markets reeling," which seemed to exasperate Navarro.
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"I'm holding up the front page of the New York Times today with all the downward trajectory," the CNN host prompted his guest. "And I simply want to know, did you anticipate this? If I had been with you 2 or 3 days ago at the announcement in the Rose Garden, would you have expected that on Saturday morning, it would all, as I said, have hit the fan to this extent?"
"It hasn't hit the fan!" Navarro insisted. "Look, sure, what we're having is going to be a restructuring and a repricing of companies, that's a given. I mean, it's a given. But what's also a given ––."
"So you knew this would happen?" Smerconish interrupted.
"What's 'this' you're referring to?" the Trump adviser argued. "We knew that markets were going to adjust to the bond market ––."
"I'm referring to the S&P 500 bottom falling out in one week," Smerconish shot back.
"Okay, so let's let's level set here for the American people," the clearly exasperated Trump advisor replied. "And this would be a great poll question: do you think the world is treating the United States and its manufacturing base fairly? The problem we're trying to deal here with, and I would love to see the New York Times put up a front page on this is a national emergency associated with a $1.2 trillion annual trade deficit. that is the result of systematically higher tariffs and non-tariff barriers, which are institutionalized by the World Trade Organization."
"That's what we're up against, Michael," he exclaimed. "We've transferred. $18 trillion of wealth into foreign hands since China joined the WTO in 2001. $18 trillion –– that's two thirds of our annual GDP in 2024."
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