President Donald Trump forced an embarrassed White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro to eat his own words after the latter brazenly announced on TV the phase one trade deal with China was over -- apparently without consulting Trump.
Appearing on a Fox News talk show Monday morning, Navarro brashly said Trump had unilaterally ended the phase one trade deal signed only last January 15 at the White House. Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed the phase one document, formally called the "Economic and Trade Agreement between the United States of America and the People's Republic of China." The deal took effect February 14.
"It's over," said Navarro, referring to phase one, on Fox News.
He also explained Trump decided to trash the phase one deal after Trump learned about the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. He said Trump learned about this only after the Chinese delegation that signed the phase one deal had left Washington D.C. Navarro blamed China for igniting the pandemic in the U.S.
By late January, China had already sent hundreds of thousands of people to the U.S. "to spread that virus," said Navarro. Navarro's announcement caused a 400 point drop in Tuesday stock futures in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
On Monday evening, however, Trump issued a tweet that was a slap to Navarro's face. In no uncertain terms, Trump said he had not abrogated phase one.
Trump tweeted: "The China Trade Deal is fully intact. Hopefully they will continue to live up to the terms of the Agreement!"
Navarro then reversed himself. He issued a statement blaming Fox News for misquoting him despite his announcing the end of phase one on live TV.
Incredibly, Navarro's explanatory statement said his comments "have been taken wildly out of context." He claimed his remarks on Fox News had nothing at all to do with the phase one trade deal despite his saying the contrary and explaining his reasons at length.
In the same interview, Navarro revealed the demise of phase one is part of Trump's reelection strategy. He said the November presidential election will focus on three main issues: jobs, China and law and order. He said Trump's decision to abolish phase one proves he "runs the table on all three of those, especially China."
Phase one focuses on food and agricultural products, intellectual property rights, technology transfer, financial services, exchange rate matters and transparency and expanding trade. It's remained controversial since it didn't tackle other key issues bedeviling U.S. trade with China.
