Peter Navarro

Peter Navarro
Navarro in 2018
Senior Counselor to the President
Assumed office
January 20, 2025
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded bySteve Ricchetti
Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy
In office
April 29, 2017 – January 20, 2021
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Director of the National Trade Council
In office
January 20, 2017 – April 29, 2017
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Personal details
Born
Peter Kent Navarro

(1949-07-15) July 15, 1949
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political partyRepublican (1989–1991, 2018–present)
Other political
affiliations
Democratic (before 1986, 1994–2018)
Independent (1986–1989, 1991–1994)
Spouse(s)
Leslie Lebon
(m. 2001; div. 2020)
EducationTufts University (BA)
Harvard University (MPA, PhD)

Peter Kent Navarro (born July 15, 1949) is an American economist and author who has been the Senior Counselor to the President since 2025. He works in the Trump administration as the Assistant to the President, Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, and the national Defense Production Act policy coordinator.

He was a Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the White House National Trade Council, a newly created job in the executive branch of the U.S. government.

He is also a professor emeritus of economics and public policy at the Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine, and the author of Death by China.[1]

After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Donald Trump refused to concede, Navarro advanced conspiracy theories of election fraud and in February 2022 was subpoenaed twice by Congress. One subpoena required him to produce documents to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack; the other subpoena required him to give testimony to the committee.[2] Navarro refused to comply, effectively ignoring both subpoenas, and was referred to the Justice Department. On June 2, 2022, a grand jury indicted him on two counts of contempt of Congress.[3] On September 7, 2023, he was convicted on both counts,[4] and on January 25, 2024, he was sentenced to four months in jail and fined $9,500.[5]

References

  1. "The wonkless White House". The Economist. February 2017. Archived from the original on October 21, 2017. Mr Navarro's views on trade are well outside the mainstream, and he is not a big hitter in academic circles.
  2. Walsh, Joe. "White House Advisor Peter Navarro Releases Dubious Voter Fraud Report". Forbes. Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  3. Perez, Evan; Reid, Paula; Sneed, Tierney (June 3, 2022). "Grand jury indicts former Trump adviser Peter Navarro for two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress". CNN.
  4. Montague, Zach (September 7, 2023). "Peter Navarro Convicted of Contempt of Congress Over Jan. 6 Subpoena". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 23, 2023. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
  5. Cole, Devan; Lybrand, Holmes (2024-01-25). "Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro sentenced to 4 months in jail for defying congressional subpoena". CNN. Retrieved 2024-01-25.