A long-standing rift between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the President’s nationalist trade adviser Peter Navarro hit new levels on the sidelines of trade talks in Beijing earlier this month.
The blowup was first reported by Axios and comes on the eve of Liu’s visit to Washington on Thursday for the next round of trade talks with his US counterparts.
The White House did not list Navarro, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow or Everett Eissenstat, the NEC’s deputy director for international economics, on the list of principal participants for the talks. A senior White House official and a source familiar with the matter said Navarro is not currently expected to take part in the talks. But another senior White House official said that while the three men won’t be part of the official delegation, they will participate in the negotiations.
Navarro and Mnuchin’s Beijing feud came as Navarro grew frustrated when additional one-on-one meetings between Mnuchin and Liu were added to the schedule — leaving other members of the delegation waiting in a hold room, one source said.
