It is called "Trump's trade tariffs", but the architect behind the American president's attempt to dramatically overthrow the rules of world trade is the adviser Peter Navarro, 75.
The circle around Trump got their eyes on the economics professor already before Trump's first term in 2017. Navarro has long been in favor of trade tariffs and against China.
At the bottom, he is a serious academic, but in 2011, he began to focus on China and wrote a book, "Death by China", and that was what caught Trump's interest. They wanted an economist who legitimized a much tougher policy, explains USA expert professor emeritus Jan Hallenberg.
Went to prison
Peter Navarro is extremely loyal to Trump, to the extent that he was sentenced to four months in prison in 2022 for refusing to be questioned in Congress about his involvement in the attempts to change the result of the 2020 presidential election.
It is something Trump appreciates and returns to.
"He even went to prison for my sake", says Trump. And it is almost the ultimate proof of loyalty from Trump's side. So it makes Navarro stand very secure in Trump's personal opinion, says Jan Hallenberg.
At the same time, Navarro's position has deteriorated internally in the circle around the president after the tariff decision on April 2, which caused chaos on the stock markets and in world trade.
Navarro is said to have been the one who came up with how the tariffs would be distributed among the different countries and has received harsh criticism for his calculations.
"Dumber than the train"
Influential adviser Elon Musk has called him "dumber than the train" and others in the Trump administration, such as Finance Minister Scott Bessent and Trade Minister Howard Lutnick, have been more visible than Navarro lately.
But Hallenberg does not believe that Navarro is on his way out from Trump's side.
Trump perceives Navarro as so unbreakably loyal and therefore it will take a while before he fires him. If he fires him at all. And firing him in this situation would also be to acknowledge that it was a mistake what happened on April 2.
