‘No exceptions’: Donald Trump tariff hawk Peter Navarro’s last-minute intervention

Until last weekend the tariff fate of America’s AUKUS partners – Australia and the UK – was still not decided. Enter chief White House trade counsellor and tariff hawk Peter Navarro.

Donald Trump and trade adviser Peter Navarro

The 10 per cent US tariff impost on Australian goods came after a last-minute intervention from chief White House trade counsellor and tariff hawk Peter Navarro, who ­demanded tariffs be placed across the board without exception.

Until last weekend, the tariff fate of America’s AUKUS partners – Australia and the UK – was still not decided.

Australian negotiators in the US were holding the line on refusal to give way on beef and pharmaceuticals after earlier offering an enhanced deal to the White House on critical minerals access, which is crucial for defence materials.

The US attitude to imposing any tariffs on Australia, which has been in negotiations since February, was “fluid”, “without malice” and not finally determined until just days before the US “Liberation Day” global tariff announcement from Donald Trump.

Mr Trump speaks to the press alongside counsellor Mr Navarro. Picture: AFP

But Mr Navarro, a long-term tariff advocate who has bizarrely described the chaos-creating tariff regime as a “tax cut”, personally intervened last weekend and insisted both Australia and the UK face a tariff.

Part of the insistence was that the US President had promised across-the-board tariffs with “no exceptions” and Mr Navarro insisted on the tariffs on Australia and the UK.

Mr Navarro had pointed to the “simplicity” of every national facing a tariff without exception.

The President’s top trade guru – who was a registered Democrat for more than two decades until he started backing Mr Trump – has made his name as a strong supporter of tariffs and he is especially well known for his advocacy of using hard-line economic tactics to counter China.

In Mr Trump’s first term, he was the leading voice in prosecuting Mr Trump’s trade war against Beijing. He is also among several Trump aides who have served jail time in recent years. Mr Navarro was found guilty of contempt of congress for refusing to comply to their investigations into his role in the attempts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory over Mr Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Australia and the UK, as well as close US friends such as Singapore, were given the minimum ­tariff of 10 per cent. The 10 per cent figure on a range of nations with different trade relations and balances with the US did not fit any logical formula.

Even the US suggestion that Australia was facing the tariff in part because of the GST did not allow for the higher rate of VAT in the UK.

The Australian understands the Albanese government is trying to negotiate an exemption from the US tariffs using the idea of a critical minerals stockpile.

On Friday (AEDT), Mr Navarro said there would be no exemptions to the US tariff regime. But it is being reported that Mr Trump – aboard Air Force One – has said the tariffs are open to negotiations.

Mr Trump reportedly said he would be prepared to negotiate for “a phenomenal deal”, appearing to contradict Mr Navarro’s statement