Peter Navarro on "Face the Nation": Trump's Commercial Counselor Minimizes the Impact of Tariffs on Chinese Consumers

One of the chief White House trade officials said on Sunday that China bears the burden of US tariffs on Chinese goods, not US consumers, and explained why President Trump decided last week to delay the imposition of new rates.

"We have been applying tariffs for more than a year," Sunday Sunday told the director of the Office of Commerce and Manufacturing Policy, Peter Navarro. "The Chinese have taken all the burden by reducing their prices and reducing the value of their currency by 12%."

But last week, the stock market lost strength, fueled by fears of a trade war with China and a potential recession in the United States. President Trump acknowledged the pain that consumers might feel as a result of a new series of tariffs that he had threatened to impose and decided to withdraw, at least on tariffs related to consumer products.

"We are doing it for the Christmas period in case some of the tariffs would affect US customers, which they have hardly done so far," the president said on Tuesday. .

Earlier this month, the president had threatened to impose a 10% tariff on $ 300 billion of Chinese tariffs, which is expected to come into effect on September 1. tariff list For now, include cell phones, laptops, video game consoles, computer screens, holiday lights and some types of toys, shoes and clothes.

Navarro explained why the White House had changed course by saying to "Face the Nation" that members of the business community had gathered in the oval office with Trump representatives and had presented a "very compelling argument "according to which the rays of the retail stores would be stored at Christmas. the contracts were executed in "contracts in dollars, which means that they were not able to transfer the load to the Chinese".

He added that business leaders "also made it clear to the president that they were moving their supply and production chain out of China as quickly as possible."

Asked that the administration could promise the Americans not to feel the impact of tariffs while retailers convinced their president, Navarro replied: "It has been more than a year since we applied tariffs. over $ 250 billion – thing in terms of inflation ".

Moderator Margaret Brennan pointed out that economic indicators are retrospective in relation to the prospective market. Navarro said that in the future, "we are witnessing the leakage of the supply chain". He said retailers "found other sources of supply" and that investments were returning "back here in America." Noting that US consumers spend $ 14 trillion a year, he pointed out that "if we apply 10% tariffs on goods worth $ 300 billion, we get $ 30 billion … A fifth of 1% of the consumer price index … This is nothing. "

Navarro said that half of the tariffs will remain taxed on 1 September. "Tariffs are working and they are an important part of the strategy to bring the Chinese to the negotiating table," he said. "And I think, Margaret, it's important every time we talk about rates, we're talking about what we're fighting for."

Mr Navarro said that what the "administration" is fighting for includes measures to combat the theft of intellectual property and unfair market practices in China. He cited the country's efforts to steal trade secrets from the United States through computer piracy and technology transfers imposed on US companies as a condition of market access.