Trump Corrects Narrative: China Trade Deal “Intact.”

White House trade advisor Peter Navarro discussed the state of the China trade deal Monday night with Fox News. 

By the end of the night it was plastered across the internet that the deal was dead. 

From the interview with Fox News:

"Here's the turning point," he explained. "They came here on January 15th to sign that trade deal, and that was a full two months after they knew the virus was out and about.

"It was a time when they had already sent hundreds of thousands of people to this country to spread that virus, and it was just minutes after wheels up when that plane took off that we began to hear about this pandemic."

Navarro went on to compare China's actions to the Japanese government holding peace talks with the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in late 1941, weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor

In a White House statement, Navarro says his comments were taken out of context, according to CNBC:

“My comments have been taken wildly out of context,” Navarro said in a statement from the White House. “They had nothing at all to do with the Phase I trade deal, which continues in place. I was simply speaking to the lack of trust we now have of the Chinese Communist Party after they lied about the origins of the China virus and foisted a pandemic upon the world.”

The future of further trade negotions appear to come down to trust and the fallout of the global Covid-19.

Just days before today's comments on the trade deal, Navarro doubled down on who he believes is at fault for the pandemic.

From The Hill:

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Sunday the coronavirus was a “product of the Chinese Communist party” and suggested without evidence that the potentially fatal virus may have been purposefully created by the Chinese government.

CNN’s Jake Tapper clashed with Navarro in an interview on “State of the Union,” in which the White House official leveled accusations that China may have purposefully spawned the virus.

“Did you say China created this virus, did I hear you wrong,” Tapper asked Navarro.

“You did not hear me wrong,” Navarro responded. “That virus was a product of the Chinese Communist party and until we get some information about what happened in those labs or what happened in that wet market we know that virus was spawned in China.”

Asked if he thinks the virus was “purposefully created,” Navarro said “that’s an open question.”

“What I said was the virus came out of China, the Chinese Communist party is responsible for it and as far as I’m concerned,” Navarro said.

He also said that in his mind, the Chinese government is “guilty until proven innocent."

Navarro has publicly stated there there should be some sort of financial repercussions for China as well. 

From CNBC:

White House advisor Peter Navarro on Monday threatened retaliation against China for its role in the spread of the coronavirus pandemic as tensions between the world’s two largest economies continue to rise. 

“A bill has to come due for China,” Navarro said during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “It’s not a question of punishing them, it’s a question of holding China accountable, the Chinese Communist Party accountable.”

Navarro is one of the chief China hawks in President Donald Trump’s administration and serves as the director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy.

He declined to say whether he was advising the president to impose new tariffs or scrap the “phase one” trade deal reached between the two countries earlier this year. 

“They inflicted tremendous damage on the world which is still ongoing,” Navarro said. “We’re up to close to $10 trillion we’ve had to appropriate to fight this battle.” 

President Trump is keeping the trade deal alive with China. 

Hopefully they prove to be a trustworthy partner.