The Trump administration remains adamantly committed to their economic policy agenda to the point of actively dismissing any counsel that disagrees. This Sunday on ABC’s This Week, top Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro passionately attempted to defend his teams’s economic program, but he consistently came up short as Americans continue to suffer because of their harsh, punitive import taxes. At one point, Navarro suggested that only when the “main street journal” starts “attacking the administration’s” policy will there be reason to worry — but they’re doing that now! Grassroots American business interests have spoken out in statement after statement shared everywhere from mainstream media outlets to the National Retail Federation — and Navarro indicates that not only does the Trump team not care, they’re not even acknowledging the existence of this negative impact-driven criticism.
Talk about proving locked in a bubble at the expense of everyone else. After host Martha Raddatz asked him about the Wall Street Journal dubbing current and near future economic conditions the “Navarro recession,” the longtime Trump associate asserted:
‘When the main street journal starts attacking this administration, that is when we worry. The question for the Wall Street Journal is where was the Wall Street Journal in the beginning of 2001 when China got into the World Trade Organization, and we watched the exodus of over 70,000 more factories and over five million manufacturing jobs. Why isn’t the Wall Street Journal editorializing over the last ten years about China’s hacking our computers to steal trade secrets.’
Watch:
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on The Wall Street Journal editorial board dubbing this the “Navarro recession”:
“When the main street journal starts attacking this administration, that is when we worry” https://t.co/6zUkFeHGFY pic.twitter.com/JqAM2Gaze3
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) August 18, 2019
First of all, who said they weren’t? It’s not like there’s some conspiracy of people in media who think that China stealing U.S. trade secrets is actually a good thing. However, there are ways to respond to that theft without putting the burden on American businesses that rely on imports from China and now have to pay more to bring their items into the U.S. to “teach China a lesson” or something.
Navarro here seems to lay out an economic version of the racist, turn back the clock social agenda of the “Make America Great Again” platform. He’s actively and explicitly asserting that the American economy should be sent to a time before the early 2000s, which would wipe out two decades of globalization — all so the Trump team can score a political point by claiming to be bringing back manufacturing jobs that might not exist anymore anyway. This “plan” is the economic version of their terror of even the slightest hint of social globalization like immigration.
Elsewhere in conversation with Raddatz, Navarro insisted that he’s got a rosy view of the near economic future for the United States, even as bonds approach an inverted yield curve and other signs pile up of economic malaise.
There’s no deal on the table with China, but Navarro insisted to Raddatz:
‘I’m optimistic that the president will do the right thing for America, and we have some significant structural issues with China that we need to address.’
“I’m optimistic that the president will do the right thing for America,” White House trade adviser Peter Navarro says when asked if he’s optimistic about a trade deal with China https://t.co/6zUkFeHGFY pic.twitter.com/BW6StuFFam
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) August 18, 2019
It makes total sense to work out those issues by hiking the cost of American businesses actually doing business — totally!
Featured Image via screenshot
