A UC Irvine professor and former San Diego politician known for his criticism of China was appointed by President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday to head the newly created White House National Trade Council.
Peter Navarro will hold the title of assistant to the president and director of trade and industrial policy.
Navarro unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 1992. He also lost bids for a Congressional seat and a San Diego City Council seat.
“I read one of Peter’s books on America’s trade problems years ago and was impressed by the clarity of his arguments and the thoroughness of his research,” Trump said. “He has presciently documented the harms inflicted by globalism on American workers, and laid out a path forward to restore our middle class. He will fulfill an essential role in my administration as a trade adviser.”
Navarro, an economics and public policy professor at UC Irvine, is the author of several books, including “The Coming China Wars,” “Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means for the World” and “Death by China: Confronting the Dragon — A Global Call to Action.”
Navarro said he is “deeply honored for the opportunity to serve the president-elect and this nation and to advise on policies to re-balance our trade, rebuild our industrial base and restore America’s comprehensive national power by making America great again.”
According to Trump, the National Trade Council’s mission will be to advise him “on innovative strategies in trade negotiations, coordinate with other agencies to assess U.S. manufacturing capabilities and the defense industrial base and help match unemployed American workers with new opportunities in the skilled manufacturing sector.”
City News Service contributed to this article.