Peter Navarro Quotes

Powerful Peter Navarro for Daily Growth

About Peter Navarro

Peter Navarro, born on March 16, 1949, is an American economist, author, and businessman, known for his protectionist economic policies and his role in the Trump administration. He was raised in a middle-class family in St. Louis, Missouri, where he developed a strong interest in economics at an early age. Navarro earned his undergraduate degree from Tufts University and his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. His academic career led him to teach at the University of California, Irvine, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard Extension School. Throughout his career, Navarro has been influenced by various economists, including John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman. However, it was his experience working in the private sector that shaped his views on global trade and economics. In the 1980s, he co-founded a successful manufacturing company, which gave him a hands-on understanding of the challenges faced by American businesses in the global market. Navarro is best known for his book "Death by China: Confronting the Dragon – A Global Call to Action," published in 2011. The book criticizes China's economic policies and their impact on the U.S. economy, a theme that would later become central to his work within the Trump administration. In January 2017, Navarro was appointed as Director of the White House National Trade Council by President Donald Trump. During his tenure, he played a key role in formulating and implementing the administration's trade policies, most notably the tariffs on Chinese goods. Post-White House, Navarro has continued to be a prominent figure in political and economic discussions, often contributing analysis and opinions on television and through his writings. His latest book, "In Trump Time: My Journal of America's Descent into Madness," was released in 2021.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"In a trade war, there is no such thing as winning – you just lose less."

The quote by Peter Navarro suggests that in a trade war, which is essentially a competitive economic conflict, neither party can truly "win" the dispute, but they may only succeed in minimizing their losses. This perspective underscores the idea that trade wars can create negative outcomes for both parties involved and that the focus should be on avoiding long-term damage to economies rather than seeking an absolute victory.


"China's mercantilist, state-driven model of capitalism does not coexist easily with free market democracies like America's."

This quote by Peter Navarro highlights a tension between China's economic system, characterized by strong government control and trade policies aimed at accumulating wealth and resources (mercantilism), and the free-market capitalist democracy of the United States. Navarro suggests that these two systems are incompatible due to their inherent differences; while America fosters free competition and political freedoms, China's state-driven model relies on government control and direction. This tension can lead to friction in trade relationships, as each country seeks to uphold its unique economic and political values.


"The global economy has become an economic-warfare battleground."

This quote implies that the modern, interconnected global economy is not just a platform for trade and cooperation, but also a field where various countries engage in 'economic warfare'. Economic warfare can involve tactics such as tariffs, subsidies, intellectual property theft, currency manipulation, and strategic investment, all aimed at gaining competitive advantages over other nations. The quote suggests that these actions have become common, and the global economy has become a battleground where nations fight for economic supremacy.


"We are in a global trade war, a war that was started by China over a decade ago."

The quote suggests that, according to Peter Navarro, there is an ongoing global trade conflict instigated by China over a decade prior. This implies that China has been implementing trade policies that are detrimental or disadvantageous to other nations for more than a decade, leading to what Navarro describes as a "trade war." The term "trade war" suggests a prolonged period of conflict centered around economic strategies and tariffs between countries. This conflict is global in scale and China, as suggested, is believed to have initiated it by implementing trade policies unfavorable to other nations.


"Globalization has been a one-way ratchet for the loss of American manufacturing jobs and middle class wages."

This quote by Peter Navarro suggests that globalization, a system where nations trade and invest with each other, disproportionately benefits foreign countries at the expense of America's manufacturing industry and working-class income. In essence, it implies that while globalization opens up opportunities for multinational corporations to reduce costs by outsourcing labor to cheaper foreign markets, it leads to job losses in the domestic market and a decline in wages for the American middle class over time.


We envision a more Germany-style economy, where 20 percent of our workforce is in manufacturing. And we're not talking about banging tin in the back room. We're talking about high technology across the board, whether it's computer chips or cars or anything in between.

- Peter Navarro

Chips, Back, About, Envision

There's a natural antipathy on the part of the voters to a continuation of globalization as we know it. It's simply a code word today for bad trade deals that disadvantage the American people.

- Peter Navarro

Natural, Code, Disadvantage, Antipathy

The American people have been kicked in the teeth by unfair trade for decades.

- Peter Navarro

Trade, Unfair, Been, Kicked

Here's the broader inconvenient truth for both Clinton and women's rights that Trump is more than willing to tell voters: Islam, as it is practiced in most countries around the world, suppresses women's rights - the only issue is the degree of severity of the repression.

- Peter Navarro

Here, Trump, Voters, Inconvenient

My fellow economists and academics fail to understand the economics of trade in the real world. Traditional models of academia respect free trade without considering whether it is fair trade.

- Peter Navarro

Understand, Models, Considering

Cheap labor is a small part of the problem at work here. If it were only cheap labor, America would be in trouble. Because it's other things, too, we have a great chance to turn it around. Here's the problem: Our high corporate tax rate pushes our companies offshore. Our high regulatory burden pushes our companies offshore.

- Peter Navarro

Small, Here, Other, Tax Rate

The biggest single thing China needs to do is build an emergent middle class and domestic consumption, and the best way to do that is through pension and health-care reform, and currency reform to establish purchasing power among its citizens.

- Peter Navarro

Through, Best Way, Pension

The defining moment in American economic history is when Bill Clinton lobbied to get China into the World Trade Organization. It was the worst political and economic mistake in American history in the last 100 years.

- Peter Navarro

Political, Bill Clinton, Defining

It's that evil twin part of me that always comes out at the absolute wrong political moment, like a demon possessing my soul; it exhibits itself as an arrogance or disdain or obnoxiousness or meanness or anger or pettiness - all traits that are lethal in politics.

- Peter Navarro

Soul, Politics, Traits, Possessing

The way the textbook works is you have gains from trade that should be distributed across all the trading partners. As soon as one bad actor like China massively cheats, they win at the expense of us; they win at the expense of Europe, and over time, it threatens the entire integrity of the global financial system and the global trading system.

- Peter Navarro

Bad, Trading, Works, Distributed

Donald Trump is not a protectionist. If he imposes tariffs on China or any other country that cheats, all he wants to do is defend America against unfair trade practices.

- Peter Navarro

Country, Trump, Donald, Practices

It's extraordinary to me - you cannot name a presidential candidate in history who has singlehandedly, through bad trade deals, destroyed more American jobs and more American factories than Hillary Clinton. She did NAFTA, she did China's entry into the World Trade Organization, she did the South Korean 2012 deal - every single one of those.

- Peter Navarro

Bad, Through, Deal, Korean

If money is the root of all evil, then China's manipulation of its currency, the yuan, is the tap root of everything wrong with the U.S.-China trade relationship.

- Peter Navarro

Wrong, Tap, Then, Yuan

Let me say right off the bat that I'm not what you would call a 'tree hugger' or a 'bushes and bunnies' environmentalist out to save the planet or the whales - although I do not denigrate that perspective either, and I really like whales.

- Peter Navarro

Out, Denigrate, Save, Whales

For those of you who still believe in the Easter Bunny and that the letters that appear in your local newspaper come from concerned citizens who really care, I've got troubling news. At least in politics, most of the letters that get published on the letters-to-the-editor page originate in the campaign headquarters of the candidates.

- Peter Navarro

Politics, Newspaper, Least, Headquarters

Manufacturing is the seed corn for other jobs in the U.S.

- Peter Navarro

Seed, Corn, Other, Manufacturing

One of the goals of the Trump administration is to reclaim all of the supply chain and manufacturing capability that would otherwise exist if the playing field were level.

- Peter Navarro

Trump, Chain, Otherwise, Manufacturing

The best way to lift people out of poverty and boost wages is to grow our GDP faster. While Trump is open to raising the minimum wage, the best approach is to grow faster.

- Peter Navarro

Trump, Best Way, Raising, Boost

Politicians need money at election time and money to get the vote. Well, more than half of money in election comes from corporate interests whose interests are in polluting the Chinese environment and making products.

- Peter Navarro

Election, Making, Polluting, Time And Money

The basic problem is for a congressman or a president to get elected, they need obscene amounts of money. And the only place you can get obscene amounts of money is from Wall Street and the big corporations who benefit from shipping our jobs and our factories overseas - that's the fundamental political problem.

- Peter Navarro

Big, Obscene, Fundamental, Shipping

In a free market and in the absence of planning, developers will flatten every hillside, fill every canyon, obliterate every endangered species, and pave over every wetland they think they can make a buck on.

- Peter Navarro

Think, Developers, Over, Canyon

A city should decide where it doesn't want to develop, saving at least some of the canyons and hillsides and wetlands from the bulldozer's blade.

- Peter Navarro

City, Want, Some, Canyon

If you've been to China, you know there are over 100 cities in China, and the pollution levels are just horrific - 60,000 people a year die in Chinese factories and facilities because they don't have any safety regulations. It's a carnage; it's Dickensian.

- Peter Navarro

Die, Year, Been, Facilities

The far more likely Trump scenario is this: Chinese leaders realize they no longer have a weak leader in the White House; China ceases its unfair trade practices. America's massive trade deficit with China comes peacefully and prosperously back into balance, and both the U.S. and Chinese economies benefit from trade.

- Peter Navarro

Leader, Back, Trump, Ceases

It does the American economy no long-term good to only keep the big box factories where we are now assembling 'American' products that are composed primarily of foreign components. We need to manufacture those components in a robust domestic supply chain that will spur job and wage growth.

- Peter Navarro

American, Big, Components, American Economy

We prefer paychecks to welfare checks for the American people and a robust middle class with rising wages.

- Peter Navarro

Middle, Rising, Robust, Middle Class

My citizen activism is a direct outgrowth of a classical and fiscally conservative training in economics at Harvard. It is a perspective rooted in one of the most important concepts in economics - the need for government intervention in the presence of a market failure.

- Peter Navarro

Fiscally Conservative, Harvard

Al Gore has all of the positive attributes of Bill Clinton but is saddled with none of his negatives. He's a great big teddy bear of a political figure - Teflon coated, road tested, and everyone's nice guy.

- Peter Navarro

Big, Tested, Bill Clinton, Attributes

It never was because of my positions or policies that people refused to vote for me. In fact, most people agreed with my policy agenda. Rather, the problem was my personality.

- Peter Navarro

Fact, Rather, Refused, Agenda

If you study how Ronald Reagan won first the 1980 election and then in 1984, what Reagan did is what Trump is going to do, and that is pull in a tremendous amount of blue-collar workers who have felt abandoned by the Democrats.

- Peter Navarro

Study, Trump, Reagan, Blue-Collar

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