Who Invented Trump’s Tariff Policy That Shook Global Markets?

Peter Navarro has lived a political life worthy of multiple HBO seasons. A former Democrat, economics professor, and failed mayoral candidate in San Diego, he unexpectedly landed at the heart of global trade policy, becoming the chief architect of Donald Trump’s tariff war against China. The author of Death by China, a vocal supporter of hydroxychloroquine, and the creator of a fictional expert, Navarro went from fringe academic to a key figure in economic nationalism—and later became the first former White House adviser jailed for refusing to cooperate with Congress. His story is that of a man who never gives up and is always ready for the next battle—even if it defies reality.

Peter Navarro’s journey from professor and liberal Democrat to author of the economic nationalism manifesto

Peter Navarro is 75 years old. With a master’s degree in public administration and a PhD in economics from Harvard University, he began his academic career in the 1980s and spent two decades teaching at the University of California, Irvine. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Navarro repeatedly attempted to break into politics, running for office in San Diego. He ran five times—for mayor, city council, and Congress—but never won any of those races.

At the time, Navarro ran as a Democrat. He opposed abortion bans, supported LGBTQ rights, environmental protection, and higher taxes on the wealthy. In 1996, ahead of a congressional race, he spoke at the Democratic National Convention—and even had Hillary Clinton campaigning for him.

In the 2000s, Peter Navarro ultimately gave up on political ambitions and focused on academia and writing. He continued teaching and publishing books on business and investing. Gradually, his attention turned more and more to China’s trade policies—a topic that would come to define his public career.

As The New York Times reported, Navarro’s wariness of China dates back to the 1970s, when he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand, traveled extensively across Asia, and observed how Beijing was influencing neighboring economies. That skepticism only grew after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. According to Navarro, even MBA graduates at UC Irvine, where he taught, began complaining that they were losing jobs due to competition from Chinese firms.

One of Navarro’s most well-known works is the book Death by China, published in 2011. In it, China is portrayed as a "trade cheater that subsidizes exports and manipulates its currency," AFP reported. Navarro and his co-author Greg Autry, a business professor at the University of Southern California, accused Beijing of exporting dangerous goods—from counterfeit medicines to faulty electronics—and criticized multinational corporations for sourcing cheap Chinese products that, they argued, were driving American manufacturers out of business.

The book was adapted into a documentary of the same name, which garnered over a million views on YouTube and became a kind of manifesto for economic nationalism.

How Death by China Made Navarro a Presidential Adviser and Architect of Confrontation with Beijing

It was thanks to Death by China that Peter Navarro caught the attention of Donald Trump, who shared his hardline protectionist views. The book served as a kind of bridge between an academic critic of globalization and a billionaire building his presidential campaign around the promise to defend the American economy.

After Trump won the 2016 election, Navarro was appointed head of the newly created National Trade Council—an entity within the White House established to coordinate trade policy. Later, when the council was reorganized into the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, Navarro retained a central role, becoming one of the chief architects of the administration’s economic agenda aimed at confronting China and renegotiating global trade deals.

Peter Navarro became the only credentialed economist in Donald Trump’s inner circle. Trump called him a "visionary" and "my China hawk," promising that Navarro would design policies capable of reducing the U.S. trade deficit, boosting economic growth, and halting the outsourcing of American jobs. Navarro is widely believed to have played a key role in igniting the trade war with China, which Trump launched in 2018 and waged with varying intensity until the end of his presidency.

Among Navarro’s bureaucratic victories was the overhaul of an international postal agreement that had allowed China to ship packages to the U.S. at artificially low rates. Thanks to his efforts, the loophole was closed—part of a broader strategy of taking a "hard line" on Beijing.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Navarro became one of the administration’s loudest anti-China voices. He repeatedly referred to the coronavirus as the "China virus," claimed that Beijing had deliberately allowed its spread, and opposed lockdowns. Alongside Trump, Navarro aggressively promoted hydroxychloroquine—a drug widely used in early 2020 to treat COVID despite a lack of clinical evidence. Later studies showed the treatment was ineffective and potentially dangerous—its use is estimated to have contributed to the deaths of thousands of patients.

Donald Trump and Peter Navarro, September 2020.

Associated Press

Navarro’s fictional source raised questions about his academic credibility

In 2019, Peter Navarro found himself at the center of a scandal when it was revealed that one of the experts he frequently cited in his books was imaginary. Australian scholar Tessa Morris-Suzuki, concerned by Navarro’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric toward China, began reviewing his early publications. She noticed frequent references to a certain Ron Vara—an expert whose quotes sounded suspiciously cliched: "You’d have to be crazy to eat Chinese food" or "Don’t play checkers in a chess world."

It turned out Ron Vara was an anagram of Navarro himself, a fictional character initially introduced as a literary device, but later used without explanation. Navarro admitted he had invented Vara and included his quotes "for color and entertainment purposes, not as a factual source." The Washington Post noted that in the first book where Vara appeared, it was clearly stated he was fictional. But in later editions, that clarification disappeared—and even the publishers were reportedly unaware of the fabrication.

As the trade war escalated, the story quickly spread through Chinese media. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the world was "shocked and outraged" by Navarro’s actions. "Inventing lies and building policy around them is not just absurd—it's extremely dangerous," officials in Beijing warned.

Navarro as a Key Trump Ally After the 2020 Election and a January 6 Defendant

After Donald Trump's defeat in the November 2020 presidential election, Peter Navarro became one of his key allies trying to keep him in power. He later openly detailed his efforts in a 2021 memoir. In the book, Navarro described attempts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to block certification of the Electoral College results in Congress. The goal, he claimed, was to buy Trump several more weeks—time to investigate alleged election fraud.

Navarro insisted he had no involvement in the January 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol, which coincided with the vote count. According to his version, Pence and congressional leaders seized on the violence as a convenient pretext to shut down any alternative scenarios for overturning the results. In his memoir, Navarro sharply criticizes Pence, calling him a "Brutus" and blaming him for the "ultimate betrayal of President Trump."

In 2024, Peter Navarro became the first former senior White House official convicted of contempt of Congress. The case stemmed from his refusal to testify before the congressional committee investigating the events of January 6 and Trump's attempts to overturn the election results. Navarro was sentenced to four months in prison, which he served in a federal facility in Miami.

Immediately after his release, Navarro traveled to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where he was welcomed as a hero. From the stage, he reaffirmed his loyalty to the former president: "The committee demanded that I betray Donald Trump to save my own skin. I refused," he declared to thunderous applause.

Peter Navarro outside the courthouse in Washington, January 2024.

Associated Press

Navarro's Appointment in Trump's Second Administration Marked a New Wave of Protectionism

In early December 2024, just two weeks after winning the presidential election, Donald Trump announced the return of Peter Navarro to the White House—as Senior Advisor on Trade and Economic Affairs. Navarro became one of the few former team members to secure a key role in Trump’s second term. As noted in a comment to The New York Times by Michael Pillsbury, who advised Trump on China during his first term, there was a "personal rapport between Trump and Navarro that no other adviser enjoys."

Navarro's return cemented Trump's reputation as a staunch protectionist. In the first weeks of his new presidency, he began imposing tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China, and EU countries. And on April 2, duties were expanded to nearly the entire world. The media described this as a political victory for Navarro and a direct result of his influence—headlines once again dubbed him "the architect of Trump’s tariff policy."

Peter Navarro urged Americans not to panic over the sharp market drop triggered by the announcement of new tariffs. According to him, the tariff policy would bring the U.S. six trillion dollars over ten years—a claim The Washington Post described as "absurd." Navarro insisted there would be no recession, that the market would soon stabilize and return to growth. "We’ll see America start making things again, real wages will rise, profits will rise," he promised.

However, the aggressive tariff strategy sparked a wave of criticism—not only from mainstream economists. Among the disgruntled was billionaire Elon Musk, a businessman close to Trump, whose company Tesla heavily depends on global supply chains. Musk harshly criticized the tariff policy and publicly called Navarro "an idiot." White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded with restraint: "Boys will be boys, and we’re not getting in the middle of their spat."

Unexpected Shift in Tariff Policy and Possible Decline of Navarro’s Influence in the White House

On April 9, just hours after sweeping tariffs came into effect, Donald Trump unexpectedly announced a temporary freeze on duties for most countries—with the exception of China, whose tariffs were raised to 125%. He explained the move by saying that "people are going a bit overboard" and "starting to get a little scared."

According to U.S. media, the policy reversal was influenced by several factors: a sharp drop in markets, including U.S. Treasury bonds, formal appeals from 75 countries requesting negotiations, and mounting pressure from business leaders, Republican allies, and members of Trump’s own administration.

When Trump announced the freeze on his Truth Social account, seated with him in the Oval Office were Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent—both considered proponents of a more moderate approach to tariffs, according to The New York Times. Peter Navarro was notably absent, which, as The Washington Post pointed out, may signal a weakening of his influence.

Nevertheless, Navarro publicly backed the president’s decision. "This is one of the greatest days in the history of the American economy. I think we’ll call it 'the art of the mutual trade deal'," he said, reframing the White House pivot in Trump’s signature style.

Tariff Policy of Trump