Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
In December, former U.S. President Donald Trump announced on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he had appointed Peter Navarro as a senior counselor for trade and manufacturing.
At the time, Trump said the role “leverages Peter’s broad range of White House experience, while harnessing his extensive Policy analytic and Media skills.”
Speaking on CNBC this Friday, Navarro was asked about the potential scenario where Chinese carmakers, including the world’s largest new energy vehicle (NEV) manufacturer, BYD, could sell their cars in the U.S. without tariffs and the impact that could have on the domestic market.
Navarro sharply criticized China’s trade practices, arguing that unfair advantages allow Chinese automakers to dominate global markets where ‘massive government subsidies’ also had a role. He pointed to labor conditions and environmental regulations as key factors in the cost disparity between Chinese and U.S. manufacturers.
“Well, let’s ask how they do it. Let’s start with the sweatshop labor. Then let’s go to the pollution haze, where they don’t have any regulations being done,” Navarro said.
He also accused China of intellectual property theft and government intervention in key industries.
“They probably stole a lot of that technology from the coal sector and other sectors. And then you’ve got massive government subsidies that keep our EVs out of their market,” he said.
Trump’s Adviser argued that China’s control over lithium supply chains is another major factor in its dominance.
“If you go back to the lithium batteries and how they do that, they use their debt diplomacy to control lithium supplies. And so they create these national champions to crush us. Then they’re crushing the world.”
He described China’s economic strategy as one that deliberately creates overcapacity in multiple industries to flood global markets.
“Their model is to build substantial overcapacity in just about everything—copper, steel, aluminum, cars—dump it on world markets, and then take over the industry with Wall Street saying, ‘Well, consumers are better off here because China can sell it cheaper.’”
Navarro defended Trump’s trade policies, arguing that tariffs were necessary to counteract China’s tactics.
“That doesn’t work. It’s an unsustainable equilibrium. And that’s why President Donald John Trump has been the only president to say, ‘That doesn’t work, and we’re doing something about it.’”
“So this is where we’re at. All we want is fairness. All we want is fairness. We’re not getting that,” Navarro concluded.
Navarro previously served as director of the White House National Trade Council from 2017 to 2021, where he was a key advocate for Trump’s tariffs on $370 billion worth of Chinese imports and national security tariffs on steel and aluminum.
In January 2024, he was sentenced to four months in prison after being found guilty of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from a committee investigating the attack by Trump supporters.
President Donald Trump held a call earlier this week with the CEOs of General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co., along with the chairman of Stellantis NV, to discuss the possibility of delaying tariffs on North American-built vehicles by 30 days.
The companies have also offered to increase U.S. auto investments but are seeking policy certainty on tariffs and environmental regulations, the sources added.
A follow-up meeting on possible tariff relief is scheduled for Wednesday at the White House, people familiar with the discussions said.
Trump previously signaled the tariffs would be significant, saying in mid-February, “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25%.”
