Washington: President-elect Donald Trump has named his former aide Peter Navarro as senior counselor for trade and manufacturing in his upcoming administration.
Navarro, an economist trained at Harvard, previously held positions in Trump’s first term, leading the newly established National Trade Council and the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, according to Xinhua news agency.
“During my First Term, few were more effective or tenacious than Peter in enforcing my two sacred rules: Buy American, Hire American,” Trump stated on his social media platform, Truth Social.
A close ally of Trump, Navarro was sentenced to four months in prison after being found guilty by a federal jury for not complying with a subpoena from the Congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. He was released in July and subsequently spoke at the Republican National Convention.
In his announcement, Trump claimed Navarro was “treated horribly by the Deep State, or whatever else you would like to call it.”
On the same day, Trump also revealed that Adam Boehler, the current CEO of healthcare investment firm Rubicon Founders, will serve as his special envoy for hostage affairs. Additionally, he nominated Jared Isaacman, CEO of Shift4 and leader of two private spaceflights, as the next administrator of NASA, and Daniel P. Driscoll, a US Army veteran and venture capitalist, as Secretary of the Army. Both nominations require Senate approval.