One of president Donald Trump's most durable advisers and fellow tariff enthusiast set off alarms on Wall Street with his recent return to television.
Peter Navarro returned to the White House as a senior counselor this year after serving as an economic adviser during Trump's first term, and he's become a "convenient villain," according to CNN, which reported that Wall Street insiders are reluctant to even say his name, as if he'd achieved Voldemort-like status.
“I’m not trying to start a public war with that guy as long as he’s got the president’s ear,” said one finance executive. “I think we’re all hoping he’s been sidelined, but he always seems to pop back up.”
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Although he wouldn't say Navarro's name, that executive was more than happy to share that others on Wall Street think his understanding of global supply chains is “egregiously simplistic” and compared “grasp of basic trade economics” to “that of a doorknob.”
"Past and current colleagues have described Navarro as 'brass-knuckled,' 'eccentric,' 'dogged and prescient,' 'intemperate,' a 'trade warrior,' having a 'difficult manner,' 'the most colorful of all the substantive characters' in Trump’s orbit, someone with a reputation for 'rudeness, ignorance and dishonesty,'" CNN reported.
"None of those descriptions were anonymous or leaked," the network added. "They’re all from books written about Trump’s first term by Navarro’s former colleagues."
One adviser in Trump's first term compared the hyperactive Navarro to a "caged lion pacing around the Oval Office,” while others mocked his penchant for using blown-up charts and graphs to capture Trump's attention.
"The oversized, always colorful poster-board charts became a signature for Navarro, as did his new epejorative nickname: 'poster boy,'" CNN reported.
Trump remains steadfastly loyal to Navarro, who went to jail for him last year rather than testify against him in the House Jan. 6 probe, but he had largely been absent from TV in the past two weeks as treasury secretary Scott Bessent became the primary public spokesman for the president's tariffs and trade negotiations, which fueled hopes on Wall Street that his influence had diminished.
"Trump has long viewed Navarro’s public appearances through a strategic lens – one designed to drive a hardline or unrelenting message," CNN reported. "When Trump grew annoyed with headlines about exemptions and carveouts in mid-April, Navarro was deployed to push back sharply against any perception of weakness."
He was back on television Wednesday morning, after the Commerce Department issued a report showing the U.S. economy had contracted for the first time since 2022, and Navarro insisted the news was good, actually, saying "we really like where we're at now," but investors disagreed.
"Navarro’s return to television Wednesday sparked a minor freakout among traders and market observers who’d convinced themselves he’d been cast aside," CNN reported.
