By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – Donald J. Trump appointed Peter Navarro, his former adviser who served prison time for “refusing” to cooperate with a congressional investigation, as his senior counselor.
Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that Navarro helped with his first-term “Buy American, Hire American” mission and “moved every one of my Tariff and Trade actions FAST.”
Navarro, described by analyses as “a prominent China hawk,” was a key White House adviser in Washington’s trade confrontations with Beijing during Trump’s first presidency.
Over that period, the U.S. moved away from striking new trade deals to expand business abroad and instead focused on measures to bring back manufacturing and protect American workers.
“During my First Term, few were more effective or tenacious than Peter in enforcing my two sacred rules, Buy American, Hire American,” Trump noted Wednesday.
“He helped me renegotiate unfair Trade Deals like Nafta and the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), and moved every one of my Tariff and Trade actions FAST….”
In his new post, Trump stresses that Navarro’s mission “will be to help successfully advance and communicate the Trump Manufacturing, Tariff, and Trade Agendas.”
TOUGH QUESTIONS
Yet opponents were due to ask tough questions about Navarro, who served four months in prison after being convicted of “contempt of Congress.”
He ignored a subpoena from the U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol building.
Navarro reportedly claimed credit for a plan to overturn the announced 2020 election results. Trump maintains the elections were unfair.
During the 2023 trial, prosecutors said Navarro “chose allegiance” to Trump over complying with the subpoena from lawmakers. Navarro’s attorneys argued the state had not proven the trade adviser “willfully” ignored the subpoena.
Even after Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Navarro remained a loyal public defender of Trump as he continued to claim that the results of the vote had been rigged and victory stolen from him.
On Wednesday, Trump wrote that Navarro had been “horribly treated by the Deep State, or whatever else you would like to call it.”
Another Trump nominee facing controversy is for proposed secretary of defense, former Fox News broadcaster’s weekend anchor Pete Hegseth.
He continues to be dogged by allegations about his past, including heavy drinking and sexual assault charges that he denies.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Senior European intelligence officials see little chance of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine this year, despite President Donald J. Trump’s claim that U.S.-brokered negotiations have brought a peace deal “reasonably close.”
British police raided two properties linked to former Prince Andrew on Thursday and detained the 66-year-old royal on suspicion of misconduct in public office, escalating scrutiny over his past association with the late U.S. financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Christians in Pakistan’s Punjab province were searching Thursday for an abducted minor girl, days after the provincial governor signed legislation raising the legal marriage age to 18 and criminalizing child marriage as a non-bailable offense.
The U.S. trade deficit edged slightly lower in 2025 but remained the third-largest on record, underscoring the scale of America’s global trade imbalance even amid sweeping tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
The United Kingdom will not allow the Pentagon to use British-controlled bases to launch potential military strikes against Iran, according to a report by The Times of London.
President Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled what he called a historic new diplomatic framework — the “Board of Peace” — during an inaugural meeting at the U.S. Institute of Peace, announcing billions in pledges for Gaza reconstruction and signaling that a major decision on Iran could come within days.
President Donald Trump is weighing an initial, limited military strike on Iran aimed at forcing Tehran to meet U.S. demands for a comprehensive nuclear agreement, the Wall Street Journal reported.