White House trade adviser Peter Navarro celebrated the new phase one trade deal with China Wednesday and previewed phase two of the trade negotiations.
“Make America Great Again,” Navarro told Breitbart News at the White House prior to the signing ceremony, repeating the president’s 2016 campaign slogan. “This is a great step toward that.”
Navarro described the administration’s agreement as the “perfect phase one deal.”
“We finally have a president who’s standing up to China, he’s finally cracking down on things like intellectual property theft, and forced technology transfer, and that’s all good,” he said.
The author of The Coming China Wars published in 2006, Navarro was brought into the Trump administration as a trade hawk on China.
“It’s useful now to see that we’re finally cracking down on those things,” Navarro said. “Good for this president.”
Phase two, Navarro said, should address the dumping of subsidies and China’s state-owned enterprises.
He also said that phase two negotiations should address China’s ongoing cyber-hacking.
“It’s got to deal with the cyberhacking of our computers by Chinese government officials to steal all our trade secrets,” he said. “That’s egregious.”
Navarro said the White House should also continue confronting China’s production and exports of fentanyl.
“Worst of all, China is the largest producer and exporter of fentanyl in the world, they’re killing tens of thousands of Americans a year,” he said. “That will not and must not stand.”
During his speech on the China trade deal, Trump thanked Navarro for his efforts in the administration.
“He’s a little different,” Trump said, noting Navarro’s tough position against China. “We have all types.”