Trump nominates tariff hawk Peter Navarro as top trade strategist

Navarro, who was a trade adviser during Trump’s first term, will become his senior adviser on trade and manufacturing, Trump told Truth Social. Trump wrote that the position “leverages Peter’s extensive White House experience while leveraging his extensive policy analysis and media skills.”

The appointment was just the first of numerous announcements Trump made Wednesday as he faces controversy over his presidential successor. Pete HegsethTrump’s choice for Secretary of Defense. Hegseth has faced allegations of sexual harassment, excessive drinking and financial mismanagement, and Trump has considered replacing him with another potential candidate.

As he looks to fill out his team, President Trump said he wants financial industry veteran and cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins to serve as the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He wrote in Truth Social that Atkins “recognizes the importance of digital assets and other innovations in making America greater than ever.”

Trump also said he was changing course on his choice of White House lawyer. He said his original choice, William McGinley, would work with the Department of Government Efficiency, which will be run by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, with the goal of cutting federal spending. Now, David Warrington, who served as Trump’s personal lawyer and campaign lawyer, will serve as White House advisor.

Trump also announced that he had selected Daniel Driscoll, an Army veteran who had been a senior advisor to Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, as Secretary of the Army. Jared IsaacmanThe tech billionaire performed the first private spacewalk aboard Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket. NASA Administrator; And Adam Boehler, the lead negotiator on the Abraham Accords team, was named the president’s special envoy on hostage issues.

Navarro Held for contempt of Congress He was sentenced Jan. 6 to four months in prison for defying a subpoena from an investigating House committee, calling his conviction a “partisan weaponization of the judicial system.”

Hours after his release last July, Navarro spoke from the stage. At the Republican National Convention, he told the crowd, “I went to jail so you don’t have to.”

Navarro, 75, has long been a critic of the trade deal with China. After receiving his doctorate in economics from Harvard University, he served as a professor of economics and public policy at the University of California, Irvine. He ran for mayor of San Diego in 1992 and lost, but went on to launch other unsuccessful campaign efforts, including a run for Democratic Congress in 1996.

During President Trump’s early term, Navarro aggressively pursued tariffs while lowering the risk of triggering a broader trade war. He also focused on counterfeit imports and even helped craft an infrastructure plan for Trump that never came to fruition.

Navarro often used fiery language that angered U.S. allies. “There is a special place in hell for any foreign leader who engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back,” Navarro said after the 2018 altercation between Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “It’s the way out the door.”

Canadians were outraged, and Navarro later apologized.

Issacman, 41, has two more flights booked for SpaceX, including as commander of the first crew aboard SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship, which is still undergoing test flights in Texas. He said it was an honor to be nominated.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to see our amazing planet from space, so I’m passionate about America leading the most incredible adventures in human history,” he told X.

Trump continued to state his position on Wednesday afternoon. He appointed Gail Slater as assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s antitrust division. “Big tech has been going crazy for years, stifling competition in some of our most innovative sectors,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Slater served on the National Economic Council during President Trump’s first term and also served as an advisor to Vance.

Trump also said Michael Folkender would take over as Treasury secretary. Faulkender, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, served as assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy during President Trump’s term. He is also the chief economist at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank formed to advance the Trump movement’s policy agenda.

Outside the White House, Trump said he had asked Michael Whatley to remain as chairman of the Republican National Committee. Whatley ran the committee. He ran for president together with Lara Trump, the wife of Trump’s son Eric.

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AP Aerospace Writers Marcia Dunn in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Josh Boak in Washington and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

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