In the latest development in U.S.-China trade tariff talks, President Donald Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro is disputing the words of his less protectionist colleague, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
That comes after Mnuchin said that the U.S. And China trade tit-for-tat was “on hold” after the two nations agreed to pause tariff threats earlier this month. But on Wednesday, Trump reversed and signaled that he still planned to impose $50 million in tariffs on Chinese imports.
Speaking of Mnuchin’s comments during a National Public Radio segment Wednesday, Navarro, a trade hardliner, dubbed the words “an unfortunate soundbite.”
When asked by NPR as to why the trade war had resumed, Navarro responded: “That was an unfortunate soundbite, basically for two reasons,” he said in regard to Mnuchin’s words. “One is that what we’re having with China is a trade dispute, plain and simple. They engage in a whole range of unfair trade practices.”
“The second thing is, the president has said we lost the trade war long ago,” he said. “President Obama, Bush, Clinton lost this when we got into bad trade deals like NAFTA.”
The relationship between Navarro and Mnuchin appears to have been souring for a while over U.S.-China trade relations. While Navarro has advocated for a tougher stance on China, Mnuchin has proposed a lighter touch. The two reportedly had an expletive-fueled shouting match in mid-May over Mnuchin’s decision to talk with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.