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Trump Advisers Took Advantage of Navarro’s Absence to Push for Tariff Pause
Wall Street Journal ^ | April 18, 2025 | Alexander Saeedy and Josh Dawsey

Posted on 04/19/2025 5:22:50 AM PDT by karpov

They needed to get the president alone.

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.

“We needed everyone singing from the same song sheet,” a person familiar with the matter said.

The stock market had cratered after some of Trump’s tariffs started to go into effect on April 2.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: alexandersaeedy; christophersteele; fusiongps; glennsimpson; joshdawsey; lyingtroll; navarro; nevertrumpingtroll; peterfritsch; russiagate; tariffs; wsj; wsjtreason; zot
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1 posted on 04/19/2025 5:22:50 AM PDT by karpov
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To: karpov

Wall Street Urnial.


2 posted on 04/19/2025 5:29:34 AM PDT by Redleg Duke (“Time to Play Cowboys and Snowflakes!”)
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To: karpov

That’s why the President has advisors. And that’s why he has advisors with differing views. This is quite normal and what I would expect from President Trump. He listens, considers and makes a decision.


3 posted on 04/19/2025 5:29:48 AM PDT by Flint
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To: karpov

All of this inter-office, palace intrigue is making me very nervous.


4 posted on 04/19/2025 5:30:10 AM PDT by vivenne (7Come to think of it. )
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To: karpov

True patriots.


5 posted on 04/19/2025 5:30:25 AM PDT by period end of story (Unvaxxed for my protection.)
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To: karpov

So, it comes down to whoever gets to Trump last?


6 posted on 04/19/2025 5:32:06 AM PDT by ComputerGuy
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To: karpov

I am not one to trust the WSJ. Could be true, could be embellished, could be made out of whole cloth.


7 posted on 04/19/2025 5:39:49 AM PDT by Recovering_Democrat
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To: karpov

I get so tired of how the media just makes up what they want people to think about what happens inside the Trump admin and people take it as fact.

Notice how they never did this to the most evil, corrupt, and illegal RAT admin of Joe Biden?

Just imagine if they had been screeching 24/7 that Joe had dementia and barely knew his arse from a hole in the grass.


8 posted on 04/19/2025 5:39:57 AM PDT by dforest
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To: karpov

Putting a pause on the more severe tariffs was the right thing to do at that point.


9 posted on 04/19/2025 5:40:39 AM PDT by lee martell
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To: karpov

they needed the pause to handle all the negotiations - handling agreements with 130 countries is quite a job over 4 years, much less a few months.


10 posted on 04/19/2025 5:41:53 AM PDT by avital2
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To: karpov
It's way past time that you learn the truth, if you will actually listen. But I doubt that you will, because all you are interested in is your self:

Victor Davis Hanson Speaks Out on What’s Been Kept Quiet...(Tariffs & other issues)

11 posted on 04/19/2025 5:42:09 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: lee martell

The action was actually a pause on the threat of tariffs


12 posted on 04/19/2025 5:43:29 AM PDT by bert ( (KE. NP. +12) Where is ZORRO when California so desperately needs him?)
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To: karpov

BTW, Trump is his own man. Always has been, always will be. Now, he always welcomes input from others, but Trump does what he wants to do. Because he sees the picture quite clearly, and he knows when & how to carry out the policy he has in mind.


13 posted on 04/19/2025 5:46:41 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: Flint
Exactly right. Trump fills the Oval Office with advisors and lets them debate the issues—loudly and aggressively—and then he makes the decision.
14 posted on 04/19/2025 5:48:20 AM PDT by RoosterRedux (A person who seeks the truth with a bias will never find it. He will only confirm his bias.)
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To: karpov

Entire “article” is fabrication- it did not happen. The “pause” as they are all now calling it— is in the original Plan.

Gradualism and flexibility in re:response of the major nations of the world. Aside from China which is the principal target for removal of unfair world trade and their goal to destroy the US. This at a time where China is about to collapse, and not from tariffs but their own stupid Han dynasty arrogance and the Communist hierarchy structure. China is dependent on the US— and searching around for other “buddies” like Vietnam is not going to work. They will not be able to exert more than tariffs (secret deals, packaging in other countries to mask the correct transactions— all in the statements made.. by Bessent in the first place.

This is WSJ slime and lazy journalism— directed by the 1% who have been quite happy selling the US down the drain. They deserve the losses for doing so, and the requirement for them to adjust to the reality of fair trade. Japan first, then Italy then... other smarter nations will draw the lines.


15 posted on 04/19/2025 5:58:28 AM PDT by John S Mosby ( Sic Semper Tyrannis )
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To: karpov

It should be kept in mind that an alternative to a 10% tariff might be a market-driven 14% devaluation of the US dollar.

Nothing the Brits could do could hold off George Soros.

Watch Season 3 of “The Crown” to realize the impact trade deficits can have.


16 posted on 04/19/2025 5:58:31 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: vivenne

Only if you believe it— which is what propagandists want to do. There is no face value to fake news being sold as a “scoop”. Bessent never did this. Weasel Street Urinal.


17 posted on 04/19/2025 6:00:31 AM PDT by John S Mosby ( Sic Semper Tyrannis )
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To: karpov

There’s about a $900 billion/year problem. Companies are going to have to make major adjustments.

The motor vehicle industry should be made internationally cash flow balanced.

The US must have the ability to make aluminum alloys for warplanes.

The US must have the ability to make steel for motor vehicles.

We want our exporting manufacturers to have low-cost raw materials. Raw materials are mainly those sold by weight. Makers of other products might be allowed to use lower cost imported steel and aluminum, with tariff credits for the products are exported.

The same export tariff credit should apply to industrial components of say LCD screens for Apple iPhones that may put together in CA and then sent overseas.

The US must have the ability to make drugs to keep its citizens alive and off the disability rolls.

Solar cells and solar panels are going to be essential as oil in the coming years. They need to be made in the USA.

Semiconductors are an essential technology. We should be making what we use.

If food is good enough for the Trump dinner table, it’s good enough for any dinner table.

No foreigner wants to pay a 10% base tariff, therefore tariff-free barter should be allowed.


18 posted on 04/19/2025 6:09:30 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: dforest

So you know for a fact the media just made this up?


19 posted on 04/19/2025 6:11:35 AM PDT by joesbucks
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To: karpov

Key decisions should be made in meetings with all key people there, so all key advice will be received by Trump and he can make decisions that are internally reviewed and revised. That way we get the best Trump and all key people can devise.

We are having a meeting on whatever on Tuesday at 9am. You can state your view then.


20 posted on 04/19/2025 6:20:54 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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