On his 100th day in office, President Trump signed an executive order creating a new Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy in the White House. The office will be led by National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro, whom Trump called "one of the greats at trying to protect our jobs." NPR's Rachel Martin spoke with Navarro about his mission: "to defend and serve American workers and domestic manufacturers."
Why manufacturing?
"This country is built on manufacturing," Navarro tells Martin. "I'm not talking about metal-bashing manufacturing. I'm talking about a constant renewal of manufacturing. High-tech manufacturing. And what we've seen since 2000, 2001, is we've seen the exodus of our factories and jobs."
The U.S. had more than 17 million factory workers in 2000. But over the next decade, nearly 6 million manufacturing jobs disappeared. Factory employment has rebounded slightly since the depths of the recession. But just over 8 percent of American workers are employed in factories today, down from 13 percent in 2000 and 20 percent a generation earlier.
So, Navarro in a new federal government position in charge of increasing manufacturing jobs. No liberal is going to think that establishing that position with those goals was a bad thing. More manufacturing in the US is a leftist idea.
So, I haven’t heard the interview, did it sound like Navarro was lying? What was the controversy? I’m sur Martin just wants to hear accurate, verifiable information. If she isn’t hearing that she might ask someone to explain discrepancies. If Navarro is an excellent liar I can see how someone might think he “won” an interview.
