Peter Navarro fought with journalists, threatened to cut interviews short, and offended Canada during a media spree promoting the Trump administration’s various trade wars on Tuesday.
Navarro, Trump’s White House senior counselor on trade and manufacturing—who was jailed last year for contempt of Congress after refusing to testify about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot—was caught in a fiery exchange with a journalist from Sky News U.K. on Tuesday as he attempted to defend President Donald Trump’s flailing economy.
The journalist challenged Navarro as the 75-year-old told the media to “stop the rhetoric” around the administration’s controversial tariffs. “Stop that c--p, that’s a bunch of c--p” Navarro shouted back before demanding to know who the journalist worked for and subsequently shushing him away.
ADVERTISEMENT
Navarro then halted the questions—yelling “Stop!”—before threatening to cut the conference and demanding journalists stand back.
He also appeared on CNBC’s Overtime on Tuesday afternoon discussing the latest backtrack in tariffs between the U.S. and Canada.
Downplaying the effects the trade war between the supposed allies would have on American residents, Navarro described Canada’s retaliatory tariffs and energy cutoffs as a “nothingburger” for Michigan and Minnesota and a “tinyburger” for New York, despite the threat of rising bills and an unstable electric grid.
Navarro blamed Ontario premier Doug Ford for the drama and claimed Trump shot a “bazooka back at him,” attempting to rewrite the narrative after days of back-and-forth between the two former allies. Trump’s trade adviser went on to ask Ford and his “friends in Canada to tamp down the rhetoric.”
“Frankly, the premier, he’s been, just tamp it down please over there. OK? They’re throwing down the hockey gloves, just stop that rhetoric and look at what we’re trying to do. We love Canada.”
Navarro insulted Canada a week earlier by claiming it had been “taken over by Mexican cartels.”
Speaking on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper, Navarro defended Trump’s policies and echoed MAGA talking points, blaming the Biden administration and the media for this week’s sputtering economy.
When Tapper interjected, “President Trump is the one who said he couldn’t rule it out, not me,” Navarro held his hands up and pleaded, “let me just finish the thought,” switching talking points to “Trumponomics” while admitting “some bumps” in the road to recovery.
Navarro even inspired a meme after appearing on Jesse Watters Primetime Tuesday night after defending Trump’s tariffs to the conservative right-wing host.
“We are in the most beautiful bullish time right now. We’re moving into transition, clearly, from Bidenomics,” Navarro said, which many online interpreted as a contradictory statement.
Navarro noted that despite the slowing economy, the president has “a proven track record.” He added: “It’s Trust in Trump... he’s been right for the last 10 years. The way I like to say it is because he’s been right, Trust in Trump.”
