Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick timed a meeting with Trump.
Trump’s Tariff-Loving Trade Adviser Out of the Room
The Wall Street Journal reports Trump Advisers Took Advantage of Navarro’s Absence to Push for Tariff Pause
On April 9, financial markets were going haywire. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick wanted President Trump to put a pause on his aggressive global tariff plan. But there was a big obstacle: Peter Navarro, Trump’s tariff-loving trade adviser, who was constantly hovering around the Oval Office.
Navarro isn’t one to back down during policy debates and had stridently urged Trump to keep tariffs in place, even as corporate chieftains and other advisers urged him to relent. And Navarro had been regularly around the Oval Office since Trump’s “Liberation Day” event.
So that morning, when Navarro was scheduled to meet with economic adviser Kevin Hassett in a different part of the White House, Bessent and Lutnick made their move, according to multiple people familiar with the intervention.
They rushed to the Oval Office to see Trump and propose a pause on some of the tariffs—without Navarro there to argue or push back. They knew they had a tight window. The meeting with Bessent and Lutnick wasn’t on Trump’s schedule.
The two men convinced Trump of the strategy to pause some of the tariffs and to announce it immediately to calm the markets. They stayed until Trump tapped out a Truth Social post, which surprised Navarro, according to one of the people familiar with the episode. Bessent and press secretary Karoline Leavitt almost immediately went to the cameras outside the White House to make a public announcement.
The Truth Social post sent the stock market soaring and helped stabilize the Treasury market. Later that day, Trump said he made the decision because financial markets were “getting yippy” and because he was keyed into warning signs from the bond markets. Just hours earlier, he had told people in a separate Truth Social post to “stay cool,” suggesting he might stay the course.
“More mischief from anonymous sources seeking to divide and conquer the trade team,” Navarro said in a text message in response to a request for comment.
Navarro was a polarizing figure inside the White House during Trump’s first term, often clashing with National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. At one point, Mnuchin and Navarro went together on a trip to Beijing to discuss trade with Chinese officials, and tension between the two men became so heated that they engaged in a heated back-and-forth outside the talks.
Trump has long been fond of Navarro, though, as they share a maximalist view on trade policy that calls for more dramatic changes. Navarro co-wrote a book, “Death By China,” which shares many of Trump’s views on Beijing.
Navarro’s hard-line views on China have helped him win the support of large parts of Trump’s base, many of whom are anti-Wall Street. But it has made him a pariah with many financial executives and business leaders.
Get Rid of Navarro
Navarro needs to be out of the White House permanently. But that is impossible because of Trump’s misguided faith in his trade advisor.
And Lutnick continually runs hoops to support Trump’s contradictory mission, assuming there is a mission. But at least Lutnick was on the right side of this effort.
Bessent is running a tightrope but he managed to pull this stunt off.
Liberation Day Flashbacks
Liberation Day was April 2 on which Trump announced his definition of reciprocal tariffs on the world.
February 13, 2025: Trump Fails to Pull the Trigger on Reciprocal Tariffs, Will Study the Issue
Despite a miserable PPI report, bonds rallied with long-term yield dropping significantly. Tariff postponement is the likely reason.
March 24, 2025: Trump Postpones “Liberation Day” to Focus on the “Dirty 15”
Damn. I was all geared up for liberation.
March 31, 2025: Trump’s Tariff Liberation Day Ceremonies Start Two Days Early With Confusing Statements
Across-the-board tariffs of up to 20% are back on the table ahead of April 2 “Liberation Day”.
April 2, 2025: Trump’s Big Announcement Is Half-Reciprocal Tariffs on the World
Factoring in value added taxes and other alleged manipulations, Trump announces Half-Reciprocal Tariffs with a minimum baseline of 10 percent.
April 4, 2025: S&P Down 10 Percent in 2 Days, Semiconductors Worst Week Since 2001
How Does it Feel on Liberation Day Number Two?
April 9, 2025: Trump Capitulates with a 90-Day Pause on Tariffs, DOW Jumps 2,200 Points
Trump has had enough of the stock market decline.
However, Trump did not fully back down on Mexico or Canada, treating our two best trading partners worse than the rest of the world.
What we did not know at the time was Bessent’s role in this pause.
April 9, 2025: Administration Lie of the Day: “Trump Goaded China into a Bad Position”
Treasury Secretary Bessent is a bad liar. Clowns portray it as 5D chess.
It’s safe to say I called that correctly.
How the 5D Plan Works
- Collect taxes from US consumers via massive increases in tariffs. Claim they will fund tax cuts, bring jobs back, and balance the budget, not noting the contradictions.
- Goad China into a response.
- Explain this was part of the master plan.
Bessent is bragging that over 50 countries want to negotiate. Well la de da. Of course they do, but in practice it’s impossible because of Trump’s idiotic definition of reciprocal.
April 13, 2025: Tariff Clown Show Continues, Tech Tariffs Back On, Separately
What a revolving door circus Trump’s tariff policy has become.
Lutnick Says Tariffs Can Eliminate the IRS and Balance the Budget
On March 12, I commented Lutnick Says Tariffs Can Eliminate the IRS and Balance the Budget
We have an annual trade deficit of $918 billion.
Team Trump proposes $918 billion in “reciprocal tariffs” to make the trade deficit go away.
But to balance the budget and eliminate personal income taxes, Trump would need to collect $7 trillion in tariffs on a net trade deficit of $918 billion.
I would love to hear a detailed explanation of exactly how that works.
Are you ready for that miracle? Me too. But wait, there are still more benefits to this amazing deal.
Trumps Claims
- Tariffs will increase revenue enough to balance the budget
- Tariffs will bring manufacturing back to the US
- Tariffs will reduce inflation
- Tariffs will increase exports
Conflicting Economic Madness
Points 1 and 2 conflict. Tariffs cannot simultaneously bring back manufacturing and raise enough revenue to balance the budget.
Points 2 and 3 conflict. Since the US is one of the world’s highest cost producer of goods thanks to unions, tariffs will not reduce inflation.
Points 2 and 4 conflict. Since the US is one of the world’s highest cost producer of goods, and other countries will retaliate, tariffs will not increase exports.
No one yet can fully explain Trump’s economic plan because it’s all double- or triple- counting of contradictory ideas.
I didn’t give idiotic policies a break under Biden and I won’t now.
Here you get an honest assessment.
Right On, and thank you for it !
There are folks here who believe that Trump policies are not idiotic. They believe that Trump policies are Andrew Mellon policies.The pukers and the mockers of the 1920’s
didn’t believe in Harding and Coolidge policies either. They didn’t stop attacking until they destroyed them. If they listened to Andrew Mellon the great depression could have been avoided. Take it easy after 4 stents.
The same secretary of the treasury in the 20s that facilitated The Great Depression by exacerbating the wealth divide via tax cuts for the wealthy, then advocated balancing the budget and increasing interest rates during America’s greatest economic collapse and found guilty of tax evasion in the 30s?
That’s the one!
Trump hates the Dollar, Wall Street and our Banking System which are the real strengths of our nation. Our military is just a stick.
The banks are a big yummy frosted chocolate cake that create economic power and resiliency.
Ask Hamilton, he got it right!
The banking system and its whore the FED are the bane of classical economic theory.
Wall Street is a criminal organization that the Mafia, the cartels, war lords, munition runners and other sordid members of societies money launder their profits through.
To conflate the nation’s greatest secretary of the treasury with one of the most corrupt and author of the Great Depression is more than a canard. It is a mockery to American history.
https://prospect.org/culture/books/the-rise-and-fall-of-andrew-mellon/
Andrew Mellon helped the Great Depression along with his pro-cyclical fiscal policy through 1932; and he lined his own pockets with his highly regressive tax policy in the 1920s. But I agree, as an intellect Mellon would outshine Trump’s flunkies (not difficult). And Andrew Mellon is that is the founder of the National Gallery of Art, which is a great museum.
Mellon’s donation of the National Gallery of Art was in consideration for his tax fraud settlement by FDR and his administration.
The upshot is the nation gets to view the prestigious Mellon art collection that he surrendered and an endowment was also proffered. The government paid for the construction of the building and its upkeep.
Why do you waste your time quoting leftist propaganda news outlets like WSJ? Sometimes, even a blatant fake news outlet. Have you noticed that WSJ never attacked, criticized, or even reported on Biden’s crazy policies?
Well, a bleeding pig is a bloody pig. We need both sides, or otherwise some of us would be known as POLITICS BELIEVERS, which is a sickness that is hard to kick.
I DO NOT VOTE. I DO NOT BELIEVE FLAPPING POLITICIAN LIPS. They are there to lie, cheat and steal.
Those are the job descriptions. The lying is there to sooth the electorate. Trump is in on the game, too.
For example: HE IS THE PEACE President, right?
COME ON NOW, the MIC is sucking his dick, too! America killed people this past week in Yemen and Gaza.
The killing continues while he is lip-flapping about the shit that he is trying to pull on us.
“Tariffs are beautiful!. NO, they are not as they are a tax on us. It can be no more clear. This President is just a bit more tolerable that the Dim-Witted Joe Biden.
I am exactly the same way in my Thinking, Mike. I might even disagree with some of your comments, but overall: SPOT ON. CALL STUPID STUPID. PRAISE GOOD MOVES and esp. when they are not contradictory. Trump’s Presidency so far has been marked with maddening inconsistencies.
But, at least we are not having to deal with BLUE HAIRED PERVERTS or HUNTER LIES, or DEI. SHEESH, that got mighty tiring. And, to witness Biden walking around in a daze was more embarrassing, not by much, than Trump’s inanities.
I also find Trump to be very funny at times and entertainment value means more to me that the words that spew like DOO-DOO from the lips of Professional Iiars.
Also, Mike, would you please cover the lack of commentary and unity in the R-Party. It is blatant. There is seemingly no cohesion, which is strange.
The big money-makers from War (McConnell, etc.) are mighty quiet.
He looks like an old country western singer.
DXY is in a trading range since Feb 2023. Most doomsday “experts” predict its demise. If DXY rises gold and Mexican tomatoes price will fall. If DXY tests 2001 high tariffs wouldn’t matter. Lower commodities prices, parts and consumers products will stimulate the US economy. It will enable gov debt reduction. A strong DXY means: investors will pour in the US bc they can’t trust communist China. They trust a gov that cuts its debt, no matter how big Trump mouth is.
But we won’t cut our debt. As I explained in an earlier post.
How about showing us some numbers for a change? Show us how much tariff revenue we will earn this year. And how it will pay down the debt.
Otherwise you’re nothing but hot air.
Since they have been on for two-three weeks only it might be hard to give you figures.
Yes. But it’s alright if people make outrageous claims about paying off the debt? Lol!
May I remind you:
We still have Trump’s tariffs from his first term.
And his second term tariffs began on march 4.
Now. How about you estimate how much Trump’s tariffs will bring in this year?
The tax foundation estimates as much as $200 billion. Why don’t you start there.
Then show me how the tariffs will pay down the debt.
It will be fun.
But you won’t. You will come up with another lame excuse. Because you know they will never be able to pay down the debt.
I don’t know yet. Need to have some trade and revenue data before. Before having some data you are just estimating on an estimation. You are just pissed off because Trump’s tariffs caught you off guard and made you lose money and that is what you hate above all else.
Lol! Good try. I personally love Trump’s tariffs. The volatility they cause is a trader’s dream. My day trading has increased significantly as a result. As have my profits.
I just have trouble understanding how many here can claim that they will bring in so much money that they will pay down the debt. And I provided the numbers to show why.
The fact that you refuse to answer my question is because you know I am right and you are wrong.
And since your lame excuse is that you don’t know what the results will be, maybe you should stop claiming what a great success these tariffs are going to be.
Though I doubt Michael will do that. He will continue to claim that they are already a big success. Yet provide no evidence at all to back that up.
Or maybe you will continue to be just as stupid as he is.
“Or maybe you will continue to be just as stupid as he is.”
Dang….mike drop moment of the ages!
You spout crap, investors will avoid the US and its shrinking currency like the plague.
er, BTW, no one trusts your Government now. Anywhere.
Tariffs, lower interest rates, a smaller gov and higher income tax collection will fill gov coffer. Tariffs on Mexican tomatoes might increase retail prices. FL and CA tomatoes growers will raise wholesale prices and make more money. More farmers will grow tomatoes. Lower transport cost and competition will send prices back down. Mexico farmers might send price lower in order to survive. Prices of perishable tomatoes might deflate.
What people do not know is that in April 2025, the Trump administration terminated the U.S.-Mexico Tomato Suspension Agreement so Mexican tomatoes have to pay a tariff now even when transiting to Canada so Canadians will have to pay up for Mexican tomatoes. The worst-case scenario is that Mexican tomatoes would pay another tariff of 25% making Mexican tomatoes 45% more expensive for Canadians. Of course in todays environment border delays from bad paperwork could cause spoilage.
Yes. I mentioned this earlier. Trump is breaking yet another agreement he made with Mexico in his first term. Another great deal he made and crowed about.
Tariffs of 20.91% on Mexican tomato imports beginning July 14.
According to USMCA, also signed by Trump, products transiting from Mexico to Canada through the US are not taxed or tariffed. Perhaps yet another broken promise by Trump.
Something else to be negotiated in the next USMCA. Assuming anyone wants to even bother negotiating. What’s the point, if you know Trump will never keep his word.
Yes. He tore up all the agreements and is starting over. We already agreed on that. All means all.
Yep. But there is no point in starting over. No point in negotiating new agreements since they don’t mean anything. It’s a waste of time.
Better to let Trump isolate us from world trade and let everyone else trade with each other.
You mean this is the first time in history that a tariff agreement has been torn up and renegotiated? Who would have thought. I suppose you didn’t know this but all tariff treaties contain clauses that allow one party to unilaterally withdraw from the treaty.
Yes.The USMCA has a clause that says you can unilaterally withdraw after giving 6 months notice. And Trump didn’t even do that. Lol!
There is no point negotiating with this guy.
Canned Woodland CA tomatoes with emulsifiers, corn syrup and salt are shipped all over the world. Canadian Ketchup is made in Ontario and Quebec,The good old days of the 1870’s/1920’s are back. Woodland was a major R/R hub which shipped can food and nuts all over the world. Woodland historic houses are tourists attraction.
What I can’t figure out is how the Wall Street Journal got observers into the various rooms and recorded everything that took place in the most secure building in Christendom. From the tone of the article it’s obvious they were there and saw everything. That is fantastic journalism.
They talked to Navarro haters.
And Navarro gave the Navarro-haters a rundown on what happened?
There are any number of books available by insiders in Trump’s first term. Trump isn’t bright enough or interested enough to set policy. So his appointees fight over them tooth and nail, knowing that Trump will do whatever the last person he talked to told him to do. So they leak everything to the press as a way to discredit their rivals. Steve Bannon and Trump kids were bitter rivals in the first term, leaking all kinds of negative stuff about each other. Bannon eventually lost. Trump apparently loves it because it keeps his name in the news.
Sure Jon. Kiss and tell books always tell the truth. He learned not to trust holdovers from a previous administration so this time they are out. He also learned a few things since the first term. Yanis Varoufakis said that even though you may not agree with Trump’s advisors dismissing them as dumb and stupid is a grave mistake. He said they are recognized by those who know as respected professionals and are known to be extremely smart. You may hate their policies but don’t dismiss them Yanis said.I really doubt the WSJ has the inside track here. It’s more like the journalist has a preconceived idea and looks for indications that confirm his bias and those of his readers and it worked very well with you.
Given the fact that team Trump deems Signal a great way to communicate military secrets, it doesnt seem very hard to get information out of this white house. China and Russia are probably feasting on all the leaks.
I have complete confidence in Navarro. Have you read his book? He’s a genius. MAGA won’t know what hit them until it’s too late.
Navarro is a fool that does not understand trade
I hope that was sarcasm!
VAT like creature on the way, maybe a 7% federal tax on consumption. This is a backdoor way to enhance revenue, nothing more.
Yup – if the tariffs don’t work.
Mish, by the looks of what was going on there yesterday it was good thing you finally ran out of McHenry County. Bunch of old whitey teachers union pensioners and SEIU types ‘protesting’ in the roads. First person report from out there said they they were going after all ‘Musk car drivers’, such as those in Dodge Vipers and Mustangs. Who knew so many from Wicker Park and Ravenswood could find their way out there.
Highland Park is in Lake County.
Hope you are feeling better Mish.
And Happy Easter to all!
Thanks! Happy Easter to you, too.
Thanks – Back at ya
Happy Easter
What a show! Even better than I expected!
Mish, like you, I am interested in seeing how this economic experiment with tariffs will achieve the many, many conflicting goals laid out by Trump and his team. I am hoping that tariffs stay in place long enough for the results to be clear.
There are several folks here who seem to believe that tariffs are already bringing in so much money that they will:
Eliminate the deficit; pay down the debt; eliminate income taxes; shore up social security and medicare; make us rich.
These folks claim those goals are already happening, without ever showing any proof.
CBP is responsible for collecting tariffs. Here is an article that says CBP collected just $500 million in tariffs from April 5 to 16. And a total of $21 billion since Janauary.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-trade-china-tariffs-revenue-b2734683.html#
The Tax Foundation estimates a 10% universal tariff could bring in up to $200 billion per year.
The CBO projects that in fiscal 2025, government spending will be $7.1 trillion, taxes collected will be $5.2 trillion and the deficit will be $1.9 trillion.
It is hard to see how $200 billion in tariffs will eliminate a $1.9 trillion deficit. Let alone do any of the other things.
Of course, tariffs have other goals as well. Bring back manufacturing and jobs; stop drugs and illegal immigration; improve national security; isolate China from the rest of the world; stop all wars; make other countries respect us again; make other countries drop all their tariffs and trade barriers; make the economy boom like you have never seen before; make us all rich; bring on the Golden Age; and a dozen other claims by Trump and his team.
Which is why I am patiently sitting back to watch the results as they roll in.
This show is better than a three ring circus!
Trudeau 2.0 is coming to Canada!
Probably. And if elected, Carney will have a mandate to fight Trump. Because that is what their election seems to be about.
Boy they really outmaneuvered the Conservatives again. The French say that the French have the most stupid Right of all the modern Democracies but it looks like Canada takes the cake this time. My condolences.
Non Doug, your homeland is far and away out in front with your delinquent ‘right’.
Are you an English sailor?
The president has grown more impulsive, more vindictive, and more anarchic. America’s Mad King – The Atlantic (archive.ph)
The Atlantic is a leftist rag. What would you expect from them?
Not all bad! They’ll send their magazine out decades after the subscription expired ….for some reason…
This is how policy making in authoritarian states works. The flunkies circle around the Dear Leader, trying to find a moment to steer policies into their preferred direction. At this point, it looks like Navarro has the venerable position that the Master of the Chamber Pot had at the court of Louis XIV. But, as Navarro has found out, it’s also pretty risk to leave the pot unobserved for even a few hours.
Mike I can’t help but notice your penchant to revel in premature ‘I told you so-ism’. Trump has 2 years to turn this country around before he gets impeached. The Establishment, through the courts, media and the multi-colored haired masses are doing everything in their power to obstruct the policies that he campaigned on and more than half of the voters hired him to enact. Give the guy a break.
Like your team gave Biden a break? What comes around goes around.
Just wait until the Democrats take over and decide they don’t have to obey activist judges and can deport people of their choice without due process.
I didn’t give idiotic policies a break under Biden and I won’t now.
Here you get an honest assessment.
Good news – Trump will announce deals with maybe 30 countries within 90 days. Likely not much change but at least something so he can claim victory. MAGA fans will celebrate what he has done.
Vietnam quickly came back and agreed to lower their tariffs to ZERO. The Trump administration said no to a deal. Why?
Transshipment
Because Trump has an idiotic definition of Reciprocal
The irony is that Navarro is actually the most honest man in the white house. Read the NYT profile on the man and you will see Trump will never fire him.
The guy is an ex-felon who faked the endorsements of his own book. If this is who you consider to be an “honest man” Id say stay away from lightingbolts.
Well, honest compared to the other Trump appointees.
So when the NYTs writes something you agree with it is no longer a leftist leaning rag?
you mean “the most fealty man in the room”?
Navarro faked endorsements of his policies in his own books.
That should have ended his career right then
Navarro may well be the most honest man in the White House. But given his documented predilection for making stuff up in a highly deceitful way, what does that say about the rest of the White House?
And that concludes the case for the prosecution.