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Trump Nominates Former San Diego Mayoral Candidate Peter Navarro To Lead White House Trade Council

Peter Navarro, professor of economics and public policy at UC Irvine, pictured in this undated photo.
UC Irvine
Peter Navarro, professor of economics and public policy at UC Irvine, pictured in this undated photo.
Trump Nominates Former San Diego Mayoral Candidate Peter Navarro To Lead White House Trade Council
In another sign that he intends to shake up relations with China, President-elect Donald Trump named economist Peter Navarro to lead a newly created White House council on trade.

In another sign that he intends to shake up relations with China, President-elect Donald Trump named economist Peter Navarro to lead a newly created White House council on trade.

Navorro has made several attempts at elected office in San Diego. He ran for mayor in 1992 (Susan Golding won); for Congress in 1996 (Brian Bilbray won); and for a seat on the San Diego City Council in 2001 (Donna Frye eventually won).

Related: Peter Navarro Talks About China And Why He Supports Donald Trump

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The University of California-Irvine professor, who advised Trump during the campaign, has sharply criticized China's economic and military policies in books and videos. In addition to leading the new White House National Trade Council, Navarro will be director of trade and industrial policy.

In a statement, the Trump transition team said the creation of the council "demonstrates the president-elect's determination to make American manufacturing great again."

Trump says China's unfair trade practices are responsible for wiping out American factory jobs. U.S. manufacturers have cut 5 million jobs since 2000. Trump has threatened to impose taxes on Chinese imports and to label China a "currency manipulator" for allegedly pushing its currency lower to give Chinese exporters a price advantage.

Navarro, author of "Death By China," also endorses a hard line toward China. Navarro has dismissed warnings that imposing sanctions on China could trigger a destructive trade war if China retaliates by targeting U.S. imports. He and Wilbur Ross — an investment banker tapped to be Trump's Commerce secretary — have argued that China and other U.S. trade partners have more to lose in a trade conflict because they depend so much on the U.S. market.

Trump has already rattled U.S.-China relations. Earlier this month, he broke protocol by taking a call from the president of Taiwan. China views Taiwan as a renegade province and considers any acknowledgement that it has its own head of state as a grave insult. Trump also said he did not feel bound by the longstanding "one-China" policy in which the United States agrees that Taiwan and the Chinese mainland are part of a single China.