Jared Kushner found a White House economic adviser for his father-in-law, President Donald Trump, by browsing Amazon while doing research about China.
While looking around on the shopping website, Kushner found a book, "Death by China," co-written by Peter Navarro, reports Vanity Fair and was struck by its title.
He called Navarro, a well-known economist and trade-deficit hawk, and asked him on as an adviser to the Trump campaign. Navarro now serves as the Assistant to the President, Director of Trade and Industrial Policy, and the Director of the White House National Trade Council.
For a period of time, though, Navarro was the Trump team's only adviser and most likely reinforced the candidate's thoughts about China's trade policies.
Navarro is a former professor of economics and public policy at the Paul Merage School of business the University of California, Irvine, and has written more than a dozen books, including "Death By China."
Trump, though, has signaled a softer approach to China and trade, and is now pushing for China to help neutralize the threat being posed by North Korea.
Earlier this week, the president, after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, backed away from a campaign pledge and said that his administration will no longer label China as a "currency manipulator."
The decision marks one of Trump's sharpest turnabouts. He bashed China in the 2015 speech that started out his campaign, insisting Beijing keeps its currency low to give its manufacturers power in global trade. When the Chinese dollar is weaker, that makes Chinese goods more affordable for Americans, but drives up the prices of U.S. goods in China.
Navarro has also accused China, as well as Germany, of currency manipulation, and like Trump, strongly opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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