Time Sep

46 TIME September 3–10 2018

Economy

county board in 1994 losing both races.
Undeterred he ran for oice again in
1996 this time for a seat in the House of
Representatives held by Brian Bilbray
a irst-term Republican swept into
oice by the Newt Gingrich revolution.
Opposition to Gingrich—who is today a
major Trump ally—was the poll-tested
theme of Navarro’s campaign. He decried
Gingrich’s agenda which he described
as “anti-choice anti-environment anti–
working people and anti-Medicare” and
his slogan wasTHE DEMOCRAT NEWT
GINGRICH FEARS MOST!
Navarro got a three-minute speaking
slot at the 1996 Democratic convention in
Chicago. President Bill Clinton the First
Lady and Vice President Al Gore all came
to California to fundraise and campaign
for him. In a memoir Navarro singled
out “street-smart savvy” Nancy Pelosi
for praise but Hillary was his favorite:
“gracious intelligent perceptive and
yes classy” he called her expressing
puzzlement that many Americans seemed
to hate her. “Okay so... this uppity
woman has made it all too clear to Middle
America that she’d rather be an activist
irst lady than rearrange White House
furniture” he wrote. “But so what? This
is the dawn of the 21st Century.”
Navarro lost by 11 points. The cam-
paign left him ruined and embittered:
his wife discomited by public life had
divorced him and he was deep in debt.
Looking around he saw plenty of people
responsible for his defeat from Bill Clin-
ton to the local media to dirty campaign
tricks to the “poorly informed voters who
ultimately determine elections.” His book
San Diego Conidential named names
and spewed insults. But he knew he bore
some of the blame. In focus groups vot-
ers found him harsh arrogant and angry.
“It’s like everything is a war with him”
one woman said. It was his personality
not his policies that turned of voters
says Remer who is puzzled by Navarro’s
current position. “The Peter I knew” he
says “would have had to swallow a lot to
do what he’s doing with Trump.”

SO WHAT HAPPENED to Peter Navarro
liberal warrior? In the ensuing decades he
would make one more unsuccessful run for
elected oice losing a 2001 campaign for
San Diego city council. He was a supporter
of Democratic politicians as recently as

and 2015’sCrouching Tiger. Death by

Chinawas made into a documentary nar-

rated by Martin Sheen. And it attracted

the attention of then businessman

Trump. “I urge you to see it” he wrote

in a promotional blurb. When Trump ran

for President Navarro heard a politician

willing to take on the evils of globalism

foreign inluence and China—someone

who like Navarro was convinced Amer-

ica was getting screwed.

Most economists disagree with this

view. They agree that China’s entry

into the WTO led to a period of “China

shock” for the U.S. economy as a lood

of cheap imports displaced American

goods such as clothing furniture toys and

electronics leading to a sharp decline in

manufacturing jobs. But experts generally

believe that the shock wore of and trade

with China has been a net beneit to the

U.S. for the past decade or so lowering

consumer prices and opening a huge new

market to American companies. Many

agree with Navarro that China’s state-

managed economy engages in unfair

practices. But virtually no economists

believe tarifs are the solution. “It’s a

trillion-dollar coin toss” says Douglas

Holtz-Eakin a conservative economist

and former director of the Congressional

Budget Oice. “It’s a very risky approach.”

2008 when he backed Hillary Clinton in

the presidential primary. In op-eds and

newsletters in the past decade he called

for an aggressive climate policy including

a carbon tax and a ban on incandescent

bulbs and supported a stimulus package

to combat the inancial crisis.

But on trade his views evolved. In

1998 he had written that he “strongly

supported free trade.” But after China

joined the World Trade Organization

(WTO) in 2001 he started to notice that

his MBA students were losing their jobs

despite their sterling qualiications. He

concluded that China’s trade practices—

including export and production subsi-

dies currency manipulation and theft

of intellectual property—were put-

ting Americans at an unfair disadvan-

tage. In other words Navarro seemed to

see in China a scapegoat for people like

himself: well-credentialed Americans

denied access to the success they felt

they’d earned.

He wrote his irst book on the phe-

nomenonThe Coming China Wars in

2006 followed by 2011’sDeath by China

△

Hillary Clinton campaigned for

Navarro in 1996 the year he ran for

Congress as a progressive Democrat

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