 "Senior trade advisor Peter Navarro stands next to US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. It is believed that Navarro has been the chief architect of Trump's tariff plan. File image/Reuters")
Ride the tariffs to victory
From US to Europe and Asia, stock markets across the world have witnessed a meltdown over the past week.
The US and China, the world’s two-largest economies, seem headed straight for a trade war.
But is this all the result of a ‘fake expert’?
Let’s take a closer look:
According to US journalist Rachel Maddow, Peter Navarro, who is the White House’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, tariffs , frequently quotes someone named ‘Ron Vara’ in his books and op-eds.
The problem is that there is no ‘Ron Vara’.
In fact, the name itself is just an anagram of “Navarro”.
Maddow claimed Trump came up with the tariff idea after a “fake memo from a fake person with a fake email address”.
But who is Navarro, you may ask?
Navarro is a noted deficit and China hawk.
He came into Trump’s orbit in 2016 after Jared Kushner stumbled onto his 2011 book ‘Death by China.’
As per The New York Times, he is known as “Rasputin-like China hawk” who keeps bringing up anti-China ideas to Trump.
Maddow said that Navarro used ‘Ron Vara’ to back up his theories in many of his books – which was confirmed by the New York Times.
As per Snopes, Navarro has quoted ‘Ron Vara’ in half a dozen books going back as far as 2001.
He usually does so as “an epigraph before a chapter."
“Only the Chinese can turn a leather sofa into an acid bath, a baby crib into a lethal weapon, and a cellphone battery into heart-piercing shrapnel,” ‘Vara’ was quoted as saying in one of Navarro’s books, as per NPR.
Maddow said Navarro even published a pro- tariff memo under the pseudonym – which The New York Times also confirmed.
“At one point, Ron Vara wrote in the memo that Trump could, quote, ‘Ride the tariffs to victory,’” Maddow said. “The issue is that Ron Vara isn’t real. The economics professor that Peter Navarro has long invoked to justify his obsession with tariffs, is a “made-up person.”
“He is a fictional person. Peter Navarro invented Ron Vara as his expert source, so he could quote this expert source over and over and over again in his crackpot books,” Maddow said.
“Who is Ron Vara? Ron Vara is an anagram of Navarro…my name anagrams to Macho Waddler, but I don’t see myself trying to talk you into doing what Macho Waddler wants, right?” Maddow concluded.
As per Hindustan Times, Navarro has previously admitted using ‘Ron Vara’ to parrot his theories.
“It’s just a fun device,” Navarro stated.
Greg Autry, co-author of Navarro’s book Death By China, has also admitted that Navarro created the fictional character.
“It’s refreshing that somebody finally figured out an inside joke that has been hiding in plain sight for years,” Navarro wrote in an email, as per NPR.
Interestingly, Navarro’s boss is also famous for inventing a fake person.
Trump during the 1980s created the persona of John Barron – who he claimed was a spokesperson.
“Barron” would often reach out to the media with stories that flattered Trump – particularly about his finances and his love life.