US President-elect Donald Trump has appointed as his foremost trade advisor Peter Navarro, who refused to cooperate against a then-Democratic Party-led Congress and received prison time for refusing in its investigation into the riots at the Capitol.
On Truth Social on Wednesday, he said that in his very first administration, "few were more effective or tenacious than Peter in enforcing my two sacred rules: Buy American, Hire American.
As his Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing, he said Navarro would work to "protect American Workers and truly Make American Manufacturing Great Again."
As for his imprisonment, Trump said that he "was treated horribly by the Deep State, or whatever else you would like to call it."
The House of Representatives Special Committee investigating the January 6 riots ordered him to appear in person and hand over documents.
He was sentenced to four months in prison for contempt of Congress, refusing to comply.
The riots came after a rally in which Trump had declared that he had won the 2020 election and the election was stolen.
Navarro joins another hardliner, Jamieson Greer, who was named US International Trade Representative (USITR) by Trump.
Trump said that Greer had helped "in imposing tariffs on China and others to combat unfair trade practices" during the first term.
Navarro is a hawk on China and has published a book, 'Death by China: Confronting the Dragon – A Global Call to Action', warning about Beijing's goal of world domination through predatory trade practices.
He is a strong advocate for high tariffs that can help reignite US manufacturing battered by imports, primarily from China, and he supported Trump as the latter increased tariffs on several items from China.
Navarro made himself known in the Covid pandemic, having warned about it and later helping the US overcome global supply chain obstacles in fighting it.
He was one of the first senior officials to sound an alarm about the Covid pandemic, warning in a January 2021 memo that it "would leave Americans defenceless in the case of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on US soil" and cost trillions of dollars.
He made his mark when Trump placed him in charge of the use of Defence Production Act to increase material production which was needed for fighting the pandemic, prominently forcing car company GM into making ventilators for the patients.
When he served as the Assistant to the President and Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, Trump said "he helped me renegotiate unfair Trade Deals like NAFTA and the Korea-UD Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), and moved every one of my Tariff and Trade actions FAST."
Trump torpedoed the North American Free Trade Agreement that existed between Mexico and Canada and replaced it with a new treaty that Trump regarded as more favorable to the United States.
He also renegotiated the Korean agreement.
Being himself Harvard economics PhD holder and already a professor at one California university, Navarro "very articulate," said Trump during his announcement, "Extensive Policy analytic and Media skills," adding that his mission will be to help succeed in advancing and communicating "the Trump Manufacturing, Tariff, and Trade Agendas.
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