White House assistant for trade and manufacturing Peter Navarro on Monday described recent reports that the United States was considering restrictions on investment in Chinese companies as “fake news” and “really irresponsible journalism.”
“The last time we talked, I proposed ‘Navarro’s Rule,’ which is that any story that comes from anonymous sources is likely to be fake news designed to part a fool from his money,” Navarro told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “And that story, which appeared in Bloomberg, I’ve read it far more carefully than it was written. Over half of it was highly inaccurate or simply flat-out false, but it was market-moving.”
He continued, “It was really irresponsible journalism and the problem we have here … these bad stories push out the good, and what happens is as soon as Bloomberg puts it out there, there’s pressure for others to put it out there, then it comes up on cable news networks. … This story was just so full of inaccuracies. And in terms of the truth of the matter, what the Treasury said, I think, was accurate.”
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