Thursday's high GDP numbers were good news, but it's too soon to take a victory lap because there are still major challenges ahead, White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro said Thursday.
"We're clear-eyed about the challenges ahead," Navarro told MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle. "We've got basic structural problems we're facing because of the virus that came from China. We have issues with our transportation sector, our entertainment sector, sports, things like that."
There are five types of policies to follow to keep the economy strong, said Navarro, listing tax cuts, deregulation, strategic energy dominance, robust defense spending, and "most of all, President (Donald) Trump loves having good trade deals."
"We have challenges ahead, and I think that's why this election is so important," said Navarro.
When it comes to energy dominance, Trump likes fracking and Democrat nominee Joe Biden "may not," said Navarro.
Defense spending is also overlooked, but Trump boosted defense by record levels, and that meant "good jobs" that sustained themselves during the pandemic, he added.
The Trump administration also brought the US./Mexico/Canada agreement, which brought home jobs to the midwest, he added.
"I don't want to argue about stats," he told Ruhle. "My job is to help the president create jobs, good wages in manufacturing ... from my own personal experience, moving around the country on behalf of President Trump, we are really working hard for blue-collar America. That's what we do."
Navarro also talked about the continuing threat from China.
"They steal our intellectual property, they hack our computers, they force technology transfer, they dump, they have these state-owned enterprises, they’re stealing our jobs and manipulate their currency, and they kill Americans with deadly fentanyl, so the president stood up to them," said Navarro. "So I think as a country, we need to kind of band together and unite around the fact that Communist China is a force in the world that's doing evil, and they want to take us down."
The nation's farmers were also harmed, but Trump came through with billions in relief for them, he pointed out.
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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