Trump picks loyalist Navarro to reprise White House trade role

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had picked Peter Navarro, a fiercely loyal former aide who did jail time related to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, to be senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, largely reprising a role he played during Trump's first administration.

Navarro was sentenced in January to four months in prison after being found guilty of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from a committee probing the attack by Trump supporters.

Trump said in a statement that Navarro's mission in the new role "will be to help successfully advance and communicate the Trump Manufacturing, Tariff and Trade Agendas."

The role is similar to one Navarro played from 2017-2021 as director of the White House National Trade Council, where he fiercely defended Trump's tariffs on $370 billion worth of Chinese imports and national security tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Navarro's appointment appears to round out Trump's new trade team. He has nominated Wall Street CEO Howard Lutnick as Commerce secretary with overall trade leadership, including "additional direct responsibility" for the U.S. Trade Representative's office.

Last week, Trump named Jamieson Greer to lead the USTR trade agency, enlisting another veteran of his 2018-2020 U.S.-China trade war. Greer is a protege of Robert Lighthizer, the architect of Trump's first-term tariff and negotiating strategy.

Lighthizer, who had been floated as a potential candidate to head the Treasury or Commerce departments in Trump's new administration, has not stepped forward for any other roles since those posts were filled. He could not immediately be reached for comment.

Trump said that Navarro, who was often at Lighthizer's side during trade talks, helped renegotiate trade deals with Mexico, Canada and South Korea and "moved every one of my Tariff and Trade actions FAST."

"During my First Term, few were more effective or tenacious than Peter in enforcing my two sacred rules, Buy American, Hire American," Trump said.

SECURITY CLEARANCE

Immediately after being released from a federal prison in July, Navarro spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and told the crowd: "I went to prison so you won't have to."

"The J6 committee demanded that I betray Donald John Trump to save my own skin. I refused," Navarro told the convention.

Navarro's role at the White House would require a security clearance, and a criminal conviction can present vetting problems for federal employees.

But Navarro's situation is likely different, as Trump could simply override any concerns raised in Navarro's application, said Brett O'Brien, an expert in security clearance law and owner of the National Security Law Firm LLC in Washington.

"Ultimately the powers over security clearances rest with the president," O'Brien said in an interview, adding that Trump could also issue a presidential pardon for Navarro.