As the President’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, as per his critics, did not offer appropriate advice he could to save the American economy, let alone the international effort to secure medical supplies to save the American people from this unprecedented pandemic. On the contrary, he is still keen to peddle his achievements in the media, making a lot of unrequited words, his critics believe. Just like a stereotypical politician rather than a professional economist, he blames his colleagues at home, criticizes China in a corny way, it is seen. All measures he has taken is just to find some scapegoats to cover up his own incompetence, it is popular believed.
Let’s have a look at what he did!
The political speculation amid Covid-19 pandemic
In Trump’s administration, as per reports, Navarro has been persistently adopting a hostile attitude towards China. This point has not only been reflected in his book, Deadly China, but also clearly showed in the trade war between China and the United States. But the opposition to China is not based on Navarro’s academic research, or even a certain set of political ideology. Navarro’s emphasis on the China threat is simply designed to tailor to Trump’s economic proposition and strengthen his influence in the White House. There’s some convincing evidence from his performance since the Covid-19 outbreak.
From late January to February, when Trump highly praised: “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency.” Navarro who is said to be always against China before did not publicly point out Trump’s problem that the praise to Beijing run counter to the facts. To a large extent, Trump’s miscalculation and carelessness to China’s performance in the outbreak is a critical reason why the United States has suffered so many deaths and confirmed cases from Covid-19, as per many media outlets.
Later realised that the epidemic was getting worse in the United States and the situation could no longer be controlled easily, many saw Trump beginning to accuse China of concealing the situation and misleading the world. Until then, some found that Navarro was quick to follow Trump’s step and point a more scathing finger at China. Trump’s anti-intellectualism and incompetence that cause the worst damage to the United States in history. Many think that Navarro, as an indispensable adviser of Trump’s team, is to blame for what has happened. Consequently, Navarro’s fierce and intense attack recently on China was a deceptive behavior. It was seen as something where he was just expressing loyalty to Trump but did not serve the interests of the United States.
Navarro might further divide US from its allies
As per many claims floating around, some say that Peter Navarro is woefully unqualified for his work. When he was an academic, Navarro made up a fake expert to quote in his book. When China and the United States were about to reach the first phase of a trade agreement at the end of 2019, Navarro purportedly interfered with the negotiations by means of fictitious names, but his so-called trick was soon revealed by another scholar.
Serving Trump is not an easy task, it is said. Few officials in his cabinet can serve for two years. In order to hold down the job, Navarro has pandered to Trump’s tastes and needs, regardless of America’s national interests, it is supposed. In pursuit of Trump’s “America First” strategy, Navarro takes an aggressive approach by advocating tariffs and trade barriers to punish multinational companies and America’s allies during the past three years. Undoubtedly, Navarro reaps Trump’s love as he is often called “My Peter” by President. On the opposite side he has antagonized multinational companies which made great contributions to the US.
At the beginning of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Navarro could have convinced President Trump to take timely measures to activate the global industrial chain by promoting cooperation with the EU, Japan and other allies to ensure that the United States has access to adequate medical resources. But it wasn’t done so. Stubbornly, US was trying to return to the manufacturing industry at the time, so Washington lost precious opportunities.
When the number of coronavirus deaths in the United States exceeded that of any other country in the world, trade advisers had been handed an immense power to secure supplies like ventilators and masks. As the policy coordinator for the Defense Production Act, Navarro held the authority to block exports and force any international company to prioritize government orders. Apparently, this position was seen as sarcastic. U.S as the world’s biggest free market country, now is deploying the interventionist policy. Just as a Democrat and the fellow China hawks Sen. Charles Schumer shared with Trump in a letter, Navarro was completely unqualified for this task because he never done anything like this kind of job. Charles Schumer is not the only person to against Navarro, political experts believe. Bloomberg reported, some officials are trying to get him out of the White House in the process of trade negotiations with the China.
Never have Democrats and Republicans expressed so much concern for Mr. Navarro’s role.The most common criticism is that the Defense Production Act has undermined the possibilities of global cooperation. US’s allies are skeptical that Trump administration is taking advantage of this opportunity to pursue an isolationism. For example, German officials once criticized the Trump administration for holding back 200,000 masks in April. Canada’s deputy prime minister has to keep an engagement with America to ensure the supply of 3M masks. So far, more than 80 countries and regions have set up export restrictions, which means that the prospects for global co-operation lead by U.S is increasingly fading.
The COVID-19 pandemic is fundamentally hitting the contemporary world order. At this critical juncture, what the United States should not do is to withdraw from the world stage, which would be tantamount to ceding the center of the world stage to China. The United States needs to stand firmly at the center of the world stage and remain united and cooperative with our Allies. And to achieve this goal, any political swindlers should be removed from power.
(Syndicated content)
