[News Figures] Navarro, Trump’s Economic Adviser Sentenced to Prison

Peter Navarro, former White House Trade and Manufacturing Policy Director who was sentenced to prison for refusing to cooperate with the congressional investigation into the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot, is the "economic strategist" who proposed protectionist policies to former President Donald Trump and orchestrated the trade war against China.

Peter Navarro, former White House Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, sentenced to 4 months in prison for refusing to cooperate with the investigation related to the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot.
[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

Born in 1949 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he majored in literature at Tufts University and earned a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He later served as a professor at the University of California, Irvine's Graduate School of Management, teaching economics and public policy.

He also showed strong interest in politics, attempting to run for elected office since the early 1990s. In 1992, after failing to secure the Democratic nomination in San Diego, California, he ran as an independent candidate for mayor but lost. In 1996, he ran as the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in San Diego but was unsuccessful again. In the 2001 special election for the U.S. House, he failed to pass the Democratic primary. He later joined then-Republican candidate Trump’s campaign as an economic policy advisor during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, establishing a connection with former President Trump. In the Trump administration, he served as chairman of the National Trade Council and as director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy as well as a presidential advisor. He was one of the White House officials who promoted Trump’s claims of election fraud, authoring a report alleging that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was marred by widespread fraud.

He is also recognized as a leading anti-China economist in the U.S. It is a well-known anecdote that in a 2018 interview with Fox TV, he referred to China as a "parasite that grows its economy at the expense of other countries." His books include Death by China, which addresses China’s currency manipulation, theft of advanced technology, and unfair trade practices, as well as Coming China Wars and Crouching Tiger.

Meanwhile, according to foreign media, on the 25th (local time), the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. sentenced former Director Navarro to four months in prison in connection with the January 6 incident. Last September, Navarro was found guilty by a jury of contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot and failing to provide related documents.