section_path: Second Trump administration (2025–present)
section_name: Second Trump administration (2025–present)
paragraph_text: Second Trump administration (2025–present)
  
  On December 4, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced Navarro would be the senior counselor for trade and manufacturing in his second term. He is one of the few officials from Trump's first term to return for his second term. He assumed office on January 20, 2025.
  
  In January 2025, amidst Trump's threats to put tariffs on Canada and Mexico, Navarro called NAFTA a "catastrophe" in an interview and said because "China was so much worse," it was ignored "how bad NAFTA was." He also linked America's problems with illegal immigration to NAFTA, saying since the US started exporting corn to Mexico, many Mexican agricultural workers lost their jobs, sending some to the US. In February 2025, Navarro and Stephen Miller were the leading officials in the economic discussions regarding the imposition of tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico. Navarro was a key official behind Trump's decision to adopt a trade policy memo in the first day of the presidency, his decision to impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to the U.S., as well as his decision to adopt so-called "reciprocal tariffs" for every country. Navarro successfully pushed the Trump administration to close the de minimis duty exemption for China, which allowed Chinese products worth less than $800 to be imported duty free.
  
  The Financial Times reported in February 2025 that Navarro proposed expelling Canada from the Five Eyes. A few days later, The Daily Telegraph reported that Navarro pushed US negotiators to start discussions with Canada about reworking and redrawing the US-Canada border, which reportedly prompted Canada to cease negotiating with the United States until Howard Lutnick and Jamieson Greer were confirmed to their positions by the Senate. Navarro was a key official behind Trump's "reciprocal tariff" policy announced in April; ING Group noted that plans for the policy appeared to align with Navarro's section of Project 2025, titled "The Case for Fair Trade", published in April 2023. Bloomberg News reported that Navarro urged Trump to adopt a 25% tax on imports or "reciprocal" tariffs based on trade deficits; the latter idea was adopted as part of Trump's announcement. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that Navarro played a central role in developing the administration's "reciprocal" tariff formula. Navarro predicted the tariffs would raise $6 trillion, a figure disputed by The Washington Post 's Fact Checker.
  
  On April 5, 2025, Navarro was criticized by Trump advisor Elon Musk, who the NYT estimated to have lost about $31 billion with the new trade tariffs. Musk questioned his educational qualifications from Harvard on X and wrote "He ain't built shit." In response, Navarro said Musk is not a "car manufacturer" but a "car assembler". On April 8, Musk responded by calling Navarro "a moron" and "dumber than a sack of bricks", and said he should consult "the fake expert he invented, Ron Vara". The higher "reciprocal" tariffs were paused on April 9 for 90 days for all countries except China; The Wall Street Journal reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick took advantage of Navarro's absence, who was meeting with Kevin Hassett, to meet with Trump in the Oval Office and convince him to announce a pause on tariffs on Truth Social. On May 4, during an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Navarro accused the United Kingdom of being a "compliant servant of communist China" and said "If the Chinese vampire can't suck the American blood, it's going to suck the U.K. blood and the EU blood".
  
  On December 4, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced Navarro would be the senior counselor for trade and manufacturing in his second term. He is one of the few officials from Trump's first term to return for his second term. He assumed office on January 20, 2025.
  
  In January 2025, amidst Trump's threats to put tariffs on Canada and Mexico, Navarro called NAFTA a "catastrophe" in an interview and said because "China was so much worse," it was ignored "how bad NAFTA was." He also linked America's problems with illegal immigration to NAFTA, saying since the US started exporting corn to Mexico, many Mexican agricultural workers lost their jobs, sending some to the US. In February 2025, Navarro and Stephen Miller were the leading officials in the economic discussions regarding the imposition of tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico. Navarro was a key official behind Trump's decision to adopt a trade policy memo in the first day of the presidency, his decision to impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to the U.S., as well as his decision to adopt so-called "reciprocal tariffs" for every country. Navarro successfully pushed the Trump administration to close the de minimis duty exemption for China, which allowed Chinese products worth less than $800 to be imported duty free.
  
  The Financial Times reported in February 2025 that Navarro proposed expelling Canada from the Five Eyes. A few days later, The Daily Telegraph reported that Navarro pushed US negotiators to start discussions with Canada about reworking and redrawing the US-Canada border, which reportedly prompted Canada to cease negotiating with the United States until Howard Lutnick and Jamieson Greer were confirmed to their positions by the Senate. Navarro was a key official behind Trump's "reciprocal tariff" policy announced in April; ING Group noted that plans for the policy appeared to align with Navarro's section of Project 2025, titled "The Case for Fair Trade", published in April 2023. Bloomberg News reported that Navarro urged Trump to adopt a 25% tax on imports or "reciprocal" tariffs based on trade deficits; the latter idea was adopted as part of Trump's announcement. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that Navarro played a central role in developing the administration's "reciprocal" tariff formula. Navarro predicted the tariffs would raise $6 trillion, a figure disputed by The Washington Post 's Fact Checker.
  
  On April 5, 2025, Navarro was criticized by Trump advisor Elon Musk, who the NYT estimated to have lost about $31 billion with the new trade tariffs. Musk questioned his educational qualifications from Harvard on X and wrote "He ain't built shit." In response, Navarro said Musk is not a "car manufacturer" but a "car assembler". On April 8, Musk responded by calling Navarro "a moron" and "dumber than a sack of bricks", and said he should consult "the fake expert he invented, Ron Vara". The higher "reciprocal" tariffs were paused on April 9 for 90 days for all countries except China; The Wall Street Journal reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick took advantage of Navarro's absence, who was meeting with Kevin Hassett, to meet with Trump in the Oval Office and convince him to announce a pause on tariffs on Truth Social. On May 4, during an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Navarro accused the United Kingdom of being a "compliant servant of communist China" and said "If the Chinese vampire can't suck the American blood, it's going to suck the U.K. blood and the EU blood".