President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named billionaire investor Carl Icahn and vocal China critic Peter Navarro as high-level advisers, moves that were viewed as suggesting that his administration is standing by controversial campaign promises to roll back regulations and renegotiate free trade agreements
On the stump, Mr. Trump called for a moratorium on new government regulations and pledged to eliminate many of the existing ones — starting with repeal of President Barack Obama’s signature health care legislation.
He also tapped into the frustration of many working-class voters by vowing to withdraw from long-standing free trade deals, such as the North American Free Trade Act.
Since the election, comments from some of Mr. Trump’s advisers — as well as the president-elect himself — appeared to indicate that he might moderate his stance. But on Wednesday, Mr. Trump was seen as signaling that he may double down.
Mr. Navarro, an economics professor at the University of California-Irvine, was one of the sharpest critics of globalization among Mr. Trump’s advisers on the campaign trail. He worked closely with commerce secretary nominee and billionaire industrialist Wilbur Ross during the campaign, helping to craft the hard-line approach on trade that propelled Mr. Trump to victory.
The proposals included ripping up long-standing agreements with Mexico, slapping double-digit tariffs on imports from China and punishing companies that outsource manufacturing jobs.
In a statement, Mr. Trump said has been influenced by Mr. Navarro’s work for years.
“He has presciently documented the harms inflicted by globalism on American workers, and laid out a path forward to restore our middle class,” he said.
Mr. Navarro will lead the National Trade Council, an advisory position within the White House that the Trump transition team said is equivalent to the historically powerful roles of the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. Mr. Navarro will help shape strategy in trade negotiations, address the decline in manufacturing jobs and implement Mr. Trump’s pledge to “Buy American, Hire American.”
Mr. Navarro authored several books blaming China for the hollowing out of America’s middle class and produced a documentary titled “Death By China” that was narrated by actor Martin Sheen. His positions break with traditional Republican orthodoxy, and economists have warned that implementing Mr. Trump’s protectionist policies could ignite a trade war that would undermine the American recovery — possibly even throw the nation into recession.
“He’s as hard a hard-liner as they come,” said Patrick Chovanec, managing director and chief strategist at Silvercrest Asset Management Group. “All you have to do is watch his movie or read his book. China is the nemesis.”
Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia University Business School and former chief economist for President George W. Bush, said Mr. Navarro has long been motivated by what he sees as an unfair playing field with China. Mr. Navarro is a longtime Democrat and has said he felt abandoned by his party.
“Peter has a set of ideas in which he’s interested,” Mr. Hubbard said. “Politicians use conservative or liberal labels. … Peter found a political leader who was very interested in his ideas.”
Mr. Icahn, one of a handful of hedge fund investors who supported Mr. Trump’s during his campaign, will serve as a special adviser overseeing regulatory overhaul. “Carl Icahn will be advising the President in his individual capacity and will not be serving as a federal employee or a Special Government Employee,” the transition said in a statement.
The extent of his responsibilities were not clear, but he has expressed skepticism of many environmental regulations. However, he has defended the sweeping financial overhauls passed after the Great Recession that Mr. Trump has pledged to dismantle.
Mr. Icahn has had a hand in shaping Mr. Trump’s economic agenda from the start — at times in ways that benefited his own investments. One of Mr. Icahn’s companies, for example, owns two oil refineries that might have to pay more than $200 million because of a congressionally mandated program designed to promote the blending of ethanol with gasoline.
At the time, Mr. Icahn said in an interview with The Washington Post: “Sure I have an agenda. George Washington had an agenda, too,” citing the founding father’s land holdings. “But having an agenda doesn’t mean you’re not doing the right thing.”
The renewable fuel program, administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, establishes renewable fuel certificates, and many big oil companies have been earning substantial profits while independent refiners struggle. “The EPA is doing for Big Oil what it could never do for themselves: Get rid of all the competitors in the refining business,” Mr. Icahn said.
Among the early advisers who will not be joining Mr. Trump at the White House is Corey Lewandowski, his combative first campaign manager. But the operative won’t be far away — Mr. Lewandowski announced plans to start a political consulting firm with offices just a block away from the White House.
Mr. Lewandowski oversaw Mr. Trump’s campaign through the Republican primaries, but he clashed with the candidate’s family and was fired. Still, he remained close to Mr. Trump, talking with him frequently and showing up occasionally at the president-elect’s offices during the transition.
Mr. Lewandowski said he was offered “multiple opportunities” to join the administration, though people with knowledge of the process said those opportunities did not include senior positions in the West Wing.
Mr. Trump also claimed victory Wednesday after meeting with Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg. In a tweet, Mr. Trump had complained that Boeing’s price tag for Air Force One was too high. Mr. Muilenburg said Wednesday that the company would “get it done for less” than the $4 billion Mr. Trump had indicated it would cost.
“We work on Air Force One because it’s important to our country, and we’re going to make sure that he gets the best capability and that it’s done affordably,” he said.
Mr. Trump also met with Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson and said, “It’s a little bit of a dance. We’re trying to get costs down. … Primarily the” $379 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive U.S. weapon system ever.
Also on Wednesday, Mr. Trump declared that the deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in Germany was “an attack on humanity and it’s got to be stopped.” He also suggested he might go forward with his campaign proposals to temporarily ban Muslim immigrants from coming to the United States and establish a registry for Muslims.
“You know my plans. All along, I’ve been proven to be right, 100 percent correct,” Mr. Trump said when asked if the attack in Berlin had caused him to reevaluate the proposal. “What’s happening is disgraceful.”
Mr. Trump proposed the Muslim ban during the Republican primary campaign, prompting criticism from both parties. He shifted his rhetoric during the general election to focus on temporarily halting immigration from an unspecified list of countries with ties to terrorism, though he did not disavow the Muslim ban.
He also has expressed openness to a registry of Muslims already in the country.
A transition spokesman said later Wednesday that Mr. Trump’s plans “might upset those with their heads stuck in the politically correct sand.”
“President-elect Trump has been clear that we will suspend admission of those from countries with high terrorism rates and apply a strict vetting procedure for those seeking entry in order to protect American lives,” said spokesman Jason Miller.
But transition officials did not comment as to whether Mr. Trump could also push for the overarching ban on Muslims. The proposal remains on his campaign website.
In other news, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a leader of Mr. Trump’s transition, said Wednesday that the president-elect is no longer interested in his catch phrase “drain the swamp” of Washington.
Mr. Gingrich said his understanding is that Mr. Trump “now just disclaims that. He now says it was cute, but he doesn’t want to use it anymore.” Mr. Gingrich made the remark in an interview that aired Wednesday on National Public Radio.
Mr. Trump has said he never loved the phrase. But it has continued to be a popular feature on his post-election tour. And his aides say he remains committed to his underlying swamp-draining policies, such as banning outgoing Trump transition and administration members from lobbying for five years.
Associated Press, Bloomberg News and The Washington Post contributed.
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