Navarro has never met Trump in person. And as for speaking with him by phone, he acknowledges, “I have never had the pleasure.”

The economist was in Cleveland for the GOP convention, but busy doing media interviews from dawn until midnight, he said.

“I am not the kind of person who needs to kiss the ring,” Navarro said. “I have great respect for him and I have worked with his team.”

Asked about Navarro’s campaign role, Stephen Miller, a Trump senior policy adviser, emailed, “He is one of the top trade experts in the world. Navarro is a champion for the American worker.”