TRANSCRIPT
Mornings with Maria (FBN) – Senior Trade Counselor Peter Navarro Interview
MARIA BARTIROMO: Joining me now is White House Senior Counsel for Trade and Manufacturing, Peter Navarro. Peter, it’s great to see you this morning. Welcome, and I know you have an op-ed out on Jay Powell, which is going to be coming out later on in the week. Give us your assessment of the chairman’s speech and this new thinking for September’s cut.
SENIOR TRADE COUNSELOR PETER NAVARRO: Maria, great, thanks for asking. Look, it was 20 minutes of Powell gobbledygook and 30 seconds of pure Trump beauty. Powell finally acknowledged what we’ve been saying in the Trump camp all along—that tariffs don’t create inflation. He had two sentences that said, one, they don’t—even if they might create some inflation, it’s only a one-shot deal, so there’s no inflationary spiral. And two, in the second sentence, he said, that’s not going to stop him from cutting rates. The markets—off they went. Maria, I’m on record as saying Dow’s hitting 50,000. I said that, Maria, by the way, when we were at the plunge—the drop—when Donald Trump first introduced the tariffs this term and the markets rebounded. And it’s going to be a rocket ship because we’re going to have price stability and economic growth from the various aspects of Trump policy. It’s the deregulation, the tax cuts, the strategic energy dominance, and guess what? Fair trade, which is getting us tariffs. They’re going to pay down our debt—pay down our debt, pay down our debt—and pay for the big, beautiful tax bill.
BARTIROMO: Yeah, look, there’s a lot of things to like here, right? I mean, whether it be all that money coming in from tariff revenue or deregulation, and President Trump’s focus on growth—I mean, this is all about growth. So I’ve got to get your take on this latest move, which is causing some debate, and that is the government taking a 10% stake in Intel. Now, nearly $9 billion in grants awarded to the company by the 2022 CHIPS Act will be converted to equity. President Trump wrote on Truth Social, the U.S. paid nothing for these shares, and now the shares are valued at approximately $11 billion. This is a great deal for America, he wrote, and also a great deal for Intel—building leading-edge semiconductor chips, which is what Intel does, fundamentals to the future of our nation. Peter, do you see that? You’re a free-market capitalist, and I know that free-market capitalists usually don’t like government invested in companies, but is this a different situation because it’s such an important product—semiconductor chips—90% of the advanced semis made in Taiwan?
SENIOR COUNSELOR NAVARRO: This is a hugely different situation. If we didn’t have Biden’s massive CHIPS Acts—which is a giveaway—the amount of money that is going to wealthy companies in that space is obscene. If he hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t be able to take that 10% check. But if the government’s going to give them a bunch of free money—hey—we’re going to get something back for the people of America. That’s the thinking. It’s the thinking of President Trump. It’s the thinking of Howard Lutnick at the Commerce Department, and it just makes sense for the American people. So put away all that talk about state capitalism, this, that, and the other thing. Biden was the problem when he passed that CHIPS Act and just gave free money away. We’re taking some of that money back and getting folks here. I mean, look, if you look at the strategy of Donald Trump, he would’ve used the same strategies he’s using for other strategic sectors, which is tariffs—which bring in billions. In chips’ case, probably trillions of dollars of new investment. And that’s the way we would’ve did it. But hey, we inherited the Biden giveaway. We’re going to take advantage of that for the American people.
BARTIROMO: I think you are spot on. I mean, that is a great assessment of what is going on, so thank you for that. But of course, President Trump wants the supply chains to return to America. This is one of his priorities. He does not want to be relying on Taiwan for advanced semiconductor chips—90% of them made in Taiwan. Yes, he does not want to be relying on China for prescription drugs and the underlying components that we need, made in China. So what do you make of this new tariff investigation on furniture imports? Peter, the president said it is a step toward bringing manufacturing back to the United States. He wrote on Truth Social: furniture coming from other countries into the U.S. will be tariffed at a rate yet to be determined. What do you think that is? And tell us what we should know about this situation.
SENIOR COUNSELOR NAVARRO: See, this is a beautiful thing. You know this, Maria, but when I was getting my PhD in economics at Harvard, I actually helped work my way through by managing a furniture store. And every year I’d go up to High Point in North Carolina and buy a bunch of stuff for the store and stuff like that. And what I saw after China joined the World Trade Organization was a total devastation of our furniture industry—our cabinetry, kitchen cabinetry, and all of that—by the same usual playbook of the Chinese Communists, which is to dump into markets and use all the government subsidies. And it really—I mean, North Carolina in particular—I mean, it ripped the heart. I mean, between textiles and furniture in North Carolina, China ripped the heart out of that state. But there’s a lot of other places in America that are flying furniture producers—cabinet, kitchen cabinetry. Another game that goes on is, like, you slap a tariff on China, and the next thing you know they’re setting up shop in Vietnam, transshipping to here. President Trump’s cracking down on all of that, and he’s going to do it for the craftsmen and workers of the American people. And that’s a good thing, Maria. And it couldn’t happen sooner.
BARTIROMO: Well, yeah, I mean, look—when you’ve got the dumping going on and putting American companies at a disadvantage, President Trump’s going to move on it, and he knows it. I mean, look, I want to get your take on India because the foreign minister has revealed that the trade negotiations with Washington are ongoing now. India keeps buying Russian oil. There are lines that New Delhi needs to defend. He claims Indian goods facing an additional U.S. tariff of up to 50% that will take effect this week—some of the highest levies imposed by Washington—largely because of the increased purchases of Russian oil. Is that what this is about, Peter? What is your take on India and why is it that India is supporting Russia in this way?
SENIOR COUNSELOR NAVARRO: Well, first of all, Russia invaded Ukraine February 2022. Before that, India bought virtually no oil at all from Russia. After that, it’s buying a ton of oil because the refiners in Russia have partnered with the refiners in India to do this scam. It’s basically—the Indians get discounted crude, then they refine it and they sell it on world markets: to Europe, Asia, Africa. And then Russia uses that money to build more weapons to bomb Ukraine and kill people. And then the Europeans and the American taxpayers have to pony up more money to pay to protect Ukraine. That’s insanity. That’s absolute insanity. So no one should feel sorry for India when the United States wants them to stop buying Russian oil—when it’s not to cool their homes or to drive their cars. It’s just to make profits for big oil in India. And by the way, interview Christine Lagarde was beautiful. But when you mentioned earlier that Europe’s still buying Russian oil—that’s insanity too.
BARTIROMO: Yeah, it’s true. And that’s what President Trump is aware of and wants—to stop funding the war against Ukraine. Peter, it’s always a pleasure. Great set of topics there. Thanks for being here.
SENIOR COUNSELOR NAVARRO: Take care, Maria.
