Trump Adviser Says Latest Bad Economic Data Is Actually Good ‘When You Strip Out’ Negative Effects of Tariffs: ‘It’s Working Beautifully’

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro spun some putrid economic data on Wednesday by saying the numbers would actually be better if President Donald Trump’s tariffs were discounted.

The U.S. economy contracted by 0.3% in the first quarter of this year. It was the first time the economy failed to grow since the first quarter of 2022. Economists expected the economy to grow by 0.4%. Earlier this month, Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on most imports, sending markets reeling and companies scrambling to secure imported products before higher prices set in.

Navarro appeared on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, where he said he and the administration “really like where we’re at” economically.

“One thing about today’s news, that’s the best negative print I have ever seen in my life,” he said. “And the markets need to like, look beneath the surface of that. We had a 22% increase in domestic investment. That is off the charts when you strip out inventories and the negative effects of the surge in imports because of the tariffs. You have 3% growth. So, we really like where we’re at now.”

Navarro, a longtime trade hawk on China, defended the administration’s astronomically high tariffs on Chinese imports, which peaked at 145%. Trump has since walked this back, stating that they “won’t be that high.”

“We know that we use tariffs to defend ourselves against that cheating,” Navarro continued. “And what we’re trying to do with China, as well as the rest of the world, get the tariff barriers down, get the non-tariff barriers down. And we do that with the strategy we’re adopting. And I think it’s working beautifully.”

Watch above via CNBC.