Washington: US President-elect Donald Trump named Peter Navarro, an economist who has urged a hard line on trade with China, to head a newly formed White House National Trade Council, the transition team said on Wednesday.
Navarro is an academic and one-time investment adviser who has authored a number of popular books and made a film describing China’s threat to the US economy as well as Beijing’s desire to become the dominant economic and military power in Asia.
Senate confirmation is required for all the posts except national security adviser, White House chief of staff, directors of the White House National Economic Council and the White House National Trade Council, and White House strategist.
Trump’s team praised Navarro in a statement as a “visionary” economist who would “develop trade policies that shrink our trade deficit, expand our growth, and help stop the exodus of jobs from our shores.”
Navarro, 67, is a professor at University of California, Irvine, and advised Trump during the campaign. He has authored several books including “Death by China: How America Lost its Manufacturing Base,” which was made into a documentary film.
As well as describing what he sees as America’s losing economic war with China, Navarro has highlighted concerns over environmental issues related to Chinese imports and the theft of US intellectual property.
The former head of the conservative website Breitbart News came aboard as Trump’s campaign chairman in August.
