Peter Navarro, a senior trade advisor at the White House, sidestepped inquiries about his presence during the controversial decision to implement a 90-day suspension of country-specific tariffs made on Thursday. Interview conducted by Kasie Hunt from CNN.
“Simply put, were you in the room with the President when he made this decision?” Hunt questioned during CNN’s “arena.”
“So – that’s not the right question,” Navarro answered. “Was I involved in the process?”
“Were you? Were you in the room?” Hunt reiterated, referring to Navarro.
“Wait,” Navarro responded.
“Are you in the room?” Hunt pushed further.
“It’s… I don’t see how this functions,” Navarro replied. “You don’t need to be in the room…”
“Well, I actually do a lot with President Trump,” Hunt interjected.
Navarro insisted, “I didn’t discuss – and I went to prison for this. I never reveal what transpired there,” adding, “what will occur in the Oval stays…” before being interrupted by Hunt.
On Thursday, President Trump threatened to revert to a 90-day suspension if the country didn’t finalize a deal with his administration soon.
“We can’t finalize the deal we want to secure, or that we need to make, which benefits both parties – that’s advantageous for both sides – and we’ll return to where we started,” Trump stated during the cabinet meeting.
Prior to the pause, global markets experienced significant volatility and economic unrest was escalating worldwide.
Since then, numerous Democrats have demanded an ethical review concerning potential conflicts of interest among Trump administration officials regarding information surrounding the 90-day tariff suspension, raising alarms about insider trading.
When pressed by Hunt on this matter, Navarro described it as “a stretch” and “absurd.”
When Hunt directly questioned him, Navarro dismissed the notion of whether he had traded stocks in the “last 48 hours” or whether insider or improper trading was possible within the administration.
“No, we wouldn’t trade stocks once we come in here,” he stated, adding afterward, “We won’t engage in that.”
Oka contacted the White House for remarks.
