I thought it was curious that Chinese officials announced that they had reached a tentative deal to roll back tariffs after "phase one" one Trump's "greatest and biggest deal ever" before anyone in Trump's regime could announce it and at least one member of the regime thought it was curious as well.
Trump's top trade adviser Peter Navarro appeared on Fox Business yesterday where he said there is no deal and this is just the work of the "Chinese propaganda press.”
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, however, said in an interview with Fox Business Network: “There is no agreement at this time to remove any of the existing tariffs as a condition of the phase one deal.”
“They’re just negotiating in public, trying to push this in a direction,” Navarro said of reports he said were put out by “Chinese propaganda press.” [...]
“There is no specific agreement for a phased rollback of the tariffs,” said Michael Pillsbury, an outside adviser to Trump.
This deal which may or may not exist was actually announced by China's foreign ministry, not the press, but I digress.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day and Peter Navarro may be correct that this was an attempt to negotiate in public. Stocks surged after China's announcement and that may have been an attempt to show Trump that rolling back tariffs would please the market. They knew that would happen in a market that treats every semi-positive headline as the second coming; where "trade optimism" seems to propel stocks more than actual financial results.
I would say it's also possible that Navarro is the odd man out, but a second adviser to Trump saying there is 'no agreement' tells me that's not the case. As always, it's nearly impossible to determine what's really happening on the rudderless ship of Trump's White House.
Navarro's hatred of China is a matter of record so I can only imagine what advice he's giving Trump today.