White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has been relegated to the sidelines of Donald Trump’s trade team, according to Politico.
Navarro was the architect of Trump’s market-crashing “Liberation Day” tariffs last week.
Trump reversed course on Wednesday, announcing a 90 day pause on tariffs he imposed on dozens of countries, except China, and signalled he is open to negotiating bilateral trade deals.
According to Politico, Trump has reshuffled his trade team to give Navarro a less prominent role.
Sources told the outlet that Navarro has been sidelined while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was placed at the helm and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick got the role of “bad cop.”
In recent days, Navarro and ‘first buddy’ Elon Musk have been involved in a public feud over the tariffs which have hit Musk’s businesses. In a series of X posts, Musk called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” “Peter Retarrdo” and mocked his education.
Navarro, meanwhile, called Musk a “car assembler” who is just focused on his own interests.
Politico noted that Navarro getting benched is unrelated to his feud with Musk.
In a CNN interview on Thursday Navarro insisted that he and Musk are on good terms
“Elon and I are fine. We’re great,” Navarro said. “It’s no problem. I said that earlier—it’s like, it’s no problem. It’s like, it’s no problem.”
“My job is trade. Elon does DOGE, and the train doesn’t meet,” he added. “That’s a tempest in a teapot and it’s in my rearview mirror and it’s in here. We’re fine.”
