Peter Navarro Reportedly Benched in Trump Trade Team Re-Shuffle

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Peter Navarro, senior counselor for trade and manufacturing to President Donald Trump, has been benched on Trump’s trade team, according to a new Politico report.

Navarro, a longtime protectionist advocate, enjoyed what might have been the crowing achievement of his career last week when Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on much of the world. On Wednesday, though, Trump reversed course, announcing his intention to lower tariffs with most countries as he seeks updated trade deals with them amid widespread economic anxiety and the plummeting stock market.

Then on Thursday, Politico‘s Megan Messerly and Ari Hawkins reported that tariff pause was part of a broader re-shuffle:

President Donald Trump this week upended not just his tariff strategy but his trade team

Former hedge fund manager and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — the White House’s main conduit to beleaguered financial markets — is now at the helm, with populist Peter Navarro relegated to the sidelines and Wall Street punching bag Howard Lutnick recast into the role of “bad cop,” according to three people close to the White House, granted anonymity to speak frankly about internal dynamics.

The diminished roles of Lutnick, the Commerce secretary who for weeks had been the administration’s point person for foreign leaders on tariffs, and Navarro, Trump’s trade adviser, reflect this week’s turmoil over Trump’s trade policy and a shift toward the “fair trade” policies Bessent has been advocating. One of the people, who is close to both Trump and Navarro, said the trade hawk still has the ear of the president, adding that Trump respects Navarro’s aggressive populism, but that “doesn’t mean he’s at the center of it.” A second person said the White House believes it can leverage Lutnick’s difficult personality in negotiations.

In recent days, Navarro has also found himself in a war of words with Elon Musk, who has referred to Navarro as “Peter Retarrdo” and a “moron,” although Messerly and Hawkins report that the decision to sideline Navarro was unrelated to the feud.