When Peter Navarro stepped away from the Oval Office on April 9, two of President Trump’s top economic advisers moved fast.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick seized the moment to convince the president to pause his global tariff push.
According to reporting by The Wall Street Journal, Navarro, one of Trump’s closest advisers on trade, had been urging him to keep the tariffs in place, even as Wall Street reacted badly.
But with financial markets tanking and the bond market starting to wobble, Bessent and Lutnick saw an opening.
They knew they only had a short window. While Navarro was in another part of the White House meeting with economic adviser Kevin Hassett, the two men rushed to the Oval Office to pitch a tariff pause.
Their meeting wasn’t on Trump’s schedule.
They made their case quickly. Trump listened, and before long, tapped out a Truth Social post announcing the change.
It surprised Navarro, according to someone familiar with the episode. Bessent and press secretary Karoline Leavitt headed straight to the cameras outside to make it public.
“We needed everyone singing from the same song sheet,” one person familiar with the decision told WSJ.
Markets responded instantly. The stock market soared, and the Treasury bond market stabilized. Trump later explained the move by saying markets were “getting yippy” and that he was watching the warning signs.
Just hours earlier, he had told followers to “stay cool,” hinting that he might stick with the tariffs. But the pitch from Bessent and Lutnick appears to have changed his mind.
The public face of the administration remained united. A Bessent spokesperson said the president’s team was “working hard to implement the America First Trade Agenda.”
Lutnick’s office dismissed rumors of division: “The notion that we are playing Gossip Girl games is simply false.”
Navarro, unsurprisingly, wasn’t thrilled. “More mischief from anonymous sources seeking to divide and conquer the trade team,” he said in a text message.
White House spokesman Kush Desai backed the president’s trade approach. “Every member of the Trump administration is playing from one playbook, President Trump’s playbook,” he said.
Navarro, a longtime Trump loyalist who served prison time last year, has remained a powerful voice on trade.
Trump reportedly told people Navarro went to prison for him, and his hard stance on China aligns closely with Trump’s views. He also co-wrote “Death By China,” a book that influenced Trump’s thinking.
While Navarro has support from Trump’s base, he’s not popular with many business leaders or financial executives. His combative style and zero-tolerance tariff views have made him a divisive figure in both of Trump’s terms.
The quick maneuver by Bessent and Lutnick also highlighted a surprising shift. The two had clashed publicly during Trump’s transition period, both wanting the Treasury Secretary job.
Bessent got it, reportedly over objections from Elon Musk. Lutnick, as a consolation, was handed a big trade portfolio at Commerce.
Yet on April 9, the two rivals worked together to pull off a major shift in Trump’s trade agenda.