Peter Navarro, President Donald Trump's senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, told Newsmax on Tuesday it is "silly" for those who believe the Trump administration relaxed tariffs on Canada and Mexico too early without gaining much in return.
Trump on Monday held off on his tariff threats against Mexico and Canada for 30 days after the U.S. neighbors agreed to boost border security efforts. Trump on Saturday ordered 25% tariffs on most imports from Mexico and Canada — and 10% on Canadian energy products — that were set to go into effect at midnight Tuesday.
"Remember, it's only a 30-day pause, and we are 48 hours later," Navarro told "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "Are we better off? Well, we got 10,000 [Mexican] troops on the southern border added to what were already there. We got 10,000 on the Canadian side. Both countries have said that the Mexican drug cartels are terrorist organizations, which opened up all sorts of law enforcement capabilities, including joint strike forces, on that.
"There's no question that we are far better off because President Trump took the step to fulfill his campaign promise. And the subtext here is on Sunday, there's going to be 75,000 people in the Superdome [in New Orleans] watching the Super Bowl. That's almost exactly the amount of people in America that die every year from Chinese fentanyl processed by Mexican cartels and coming in from both Mexico and Canada.
"So, this is a drug war, not a trade war. This is a very thoughtful approach to a problem that President Trump promised he would solve on the campaign trail. And so far, we're off to a really good start. But the metric, the best measure of success is going to be people not dying anymore here on American soil."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
- Find Newsmax channel in your home via cable and satellite systems – More Info Here
- Watch Newsmax+ on your home TV app or smartphone and watch it anywhere! Try it for FREE – See More Here: NewsmaxPlus.com