Who Is Peter Navarro, Trump Loyalist, China Hawk, And Now Fiercest India Critic Over Russian Oil Purchases?

(MENAFN- Live Mint) White House trade advisor Peter Navarro has once again attacked India while justifying US President Donald Trump's 50 per cent tariffs and described New Delhi as "nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin."

Navarro, White House Senior Counsellor for trade and manufacturing, went on to say that "Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people."

“I want people to understand what's happening. Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people,” Navarro said in the interview to Fox News.

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His remarks were in response to a question on the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling 7-4 that Trump overstepped his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by imposing broad tariffs on nearly every country.

Navarro labelled the ruling“weaponised partisan injustice at its worst,” accusing the court of being“politicians in black robes.”

Who is Peter Navarro?

Navarro, 76, has been criticising India while defending 50 per cent US tariffs on Indian goods coming into effect on 27 August.

Last week, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, he called the Russia-Ukraine war 'Modi's War' and said, the road to peace in Ukraine runs at least“partly right through New Delhi,” while criticising India's purchase of oil from Russia.

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In another post on X, Navarro shared portions of his article in the Financial Times in which he described India's foreign policy as 'strategic freeloading' and said Trump was confronting 'this madness.'

A Trump Loyalist

Navarro, like Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, is a known Donald Trump loyalist . He has been with President Trump since the Republicans' first presidential campaign in 2016.

Navarro is one of many Trump aides who have been defending tariffs as a policy tool and is sometimes said to have influenced the US President's views on the matter, especially while imposing tariffs on China during his first term.

Born in 1949, Peter Kent Navarro is a US economist who has been the senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing to US President Donald Trump since January 2025. Navarro previously served in the first Trump administration, first as the director of the White House National Trade Council, then as the director of the new Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy.

Navarro is a professor emeritus of economics and public policy at the Paul Merage School of Business of the University of California , Irvine, with a PhD from Harvard University

China Hawk

In January 2017, Navarro joined the first Trump administration as an advisor on trade. As a senior administration official, Navarro encouraged President Trump to implement protectionist trade policies . He is said to have advocated for hardline policies towards China and was a key figure behind the administration's trade war against China.

Also Read | 'India, act like biggest democracy': Trump aide blames India for Ukraine war

Navarro has also made failed bids for office in the past, including from the Democratic Party. He is said to have met Trump while he was on the campaign trail nearly a decade ago, before joining the first Trump administration .

“Three years ago, Navarro was an obscure business professor in Southern California... Now, Navarro has more influence than perhaps anyone else in shaping US trade policy into one grounded in the idea that America can never“win” so long as other countries are reaping benefits, too.” The Politico, American political digital newspaper, wrote of him in 2018.

Four-month Sentence

Navarro sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election. In 2022, a grand jury indicted him on two counts of contempt of Congress. In 2024, he was sentenced to four months in jail, becoming the first former White House official imprisoned on a contempt-of-Congress conviction.

While announcing his appointment in 2025, Trump said Navarro was“treated horribly by the Deep State, or whatever else.”

The Coming China Wars

Before joining the government, Navarro was a popular author on China. In his 2006 book, The Coming China Wars , Navarro wrote about threats to the world due to China's economic and military rise, covering everything from the economy to climate change and saying the country“cheats” on trade.

Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people.

Navarro was accused of quoting a Harvard-educated expert across multiple works. Later, it was found to be a fake identity he created using letters of his own last name – 'Ron Vara'. Navarro defended himself by terming it a 'whimsical (writing) device and pen name.'

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