Since arriving at the White House in July, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly has sought to better organize the policy-making process within the White House. | Win McNamee/Getty Images Kelly folds Navarro’s trade shop into National Economic Council The Harvard-trained economist, who’s been allied with former strategist Steve Bannon, will now report to NEC director Gary Cohn.

White House chief of staff John Kelly is folding adviser Peter Navarro’s trade office into the National Economic Council – a move that could limit Navarro’s influence in the West Wing.

The Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, which is run by Navarro, will now be housed within the NEC, four administration officials told POLITICO. That means Navarro will report to NEC Director Gary Cohn, with whom he has repeatedly clashed in recent months.


Kelly made the decision on Tuesday, the officials said.

“I’m a chain of command guy and will follow Chief Kelly’s orders,” Navarro said in a statement to POLITICO. “The chief has assured me I will continue to have the same seat and voice at the president’s decision-making table.”

Navarro’s role in the administration has long been a topic of intense debate for President Donald Trump’s team. During the presidential transition, Trump tapped Navarro to be the head of a new White House National Trade Council, which would have been elevated to the same status as established bodies like the Domestic Policy Council. But the president later put Navarro in charge of a separate Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy.

Since then, Navarro has operated largely as a one-man trade warrior within the West Wing, arguing vehemently for aggressive tariffs. He’s operated with a rare degree of independence – though he often works closely with senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, an ideological ally.

Kelly’s decision to have Navarro report to Cohn, who has pushed behind the scenes to temper Trump’s hardline instincts, could further isolate the former economics professor. Cohn is Navarro’s “nemesis,” according to an associate of Navarro’s. The two men have sometimes yelled at each other during White House trade meetings, and Cohn has often been dismissive of Navarro’s policy proposals.

In the statement, Navarro said there is “a certain logic to having a Harvard Ph.D. economist join the National Economic Council,” adding that he was promised that his office “would remain an essential part of the policy development process.”

Navarro has found himself with fewer allies in the White House since the departure of Steve Bannon and other trade hawks. Navarro’s West Wing critics hope the reassignment will lead to his ultimate resignation, though people close to Navarro say he has no intention of leaving.

Supporters of Navarro’s agenda worry the reassignment is the latest signal that the president is abandoning his trade promises.

“I think this is very troubling because Peter was maybe the last person in the White House who was guardian of the president’s economic and trade commitments during the election,” said Mike Wessel, who knows Navarro and is a longtime commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a watchdog panel set up by Congress in 2000.

Since arriving at the White House in July, Kelly has sought to better organize the policy-making process within the White House. He has limited administration officials’ direct access to President Donald Trump and issued a mandate that all policy issues must be run through formalized vetting processes helmed by either the NEC, the Domestic Policy Council or the National Security Council.

Ben White and Adam Behsudi contributed to this story.

