Fox News host gets visibly frustrated with Trump trade adviser during interview
Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo lost her patience with President Donald Trump’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, Peter Navarro, on Friday morning as she pressed when trade deals will be released.
“Are you expecting more trade deals in the near term?” Bartiromo asked, “Because Peter, we keep hearing that India could be next, and the EU is doing this fast tracking. When are we going to have more deals in terms of tariff deals?”
“Well, the umm, United States Trade representative building,” Navarro deflected, “I don't know if you have ever been over there, it's right across the street, it played an important role in the Civil War.”
Navarro added, “It looks more like a deli now and you go in and you get your number and you stand in line and you do that so you can go and negotiate with Jamieson Greer the [United States trade representative] and Howard Lutnick United States secretary of commerce and that's what we are doing.”
Bartiromo was visibly frustrated with the answer but did not interrupt as Navarro continued to go on. “We've got a formula and a template. We go through five different verticals to make sure the American people are protected.”
He added, “We will have deals — it takes time, usually it takes months or years, with this administration, it's going to take days. We are on task and on target."
Navarro went on with his lengthy answer, saying, "At the end of the day, you know what we want. All we want is fairness, we have the highest tariffs facing us in the world, the highest trade barriers, it's not a China problem, it's a world problem, and we are going to fix it because that's what President Trump does.”
The remarks were first noted by independent journalist Aaron Rupar on X.
“BARTIROMO: When are we gonna have more trade deals to talk about?” he wrote, “NAVARRO: We'll have deals. It takes time. Usually, it takes months and years. In this administration, it's gonna take more like days.”
Professor at Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute Justin Wolfers, reposted Rupar’s video with a pie chart which said “progress report on the 90 countries the White House is negotiating trade deals made.” The pie chart shows 90 deals not yet signed.
Watch below or click the link.
— (@)