CHINA/EU/TRADE WAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump’s trade war has provoked an internal fight among his top economic advisers, with officials sparring both publicly and behind the scenes over the best approach to dealing with China, the European Union and other trading partners. The disagreements spilled into view on Tuesday [11-13-18] as Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, accused Peter Navarro, a top trade adviser, of doing the president ‘a great disservice’ by making hawkish comments about trade talks with China. Mr. Kudlow said Mr. Navarro’s speech last week — which included a prediction that Mr. Trump would have the ‘courage’ to reject a bad trade deal with China — was ‘not authorized’ by the administration…The internal feuding comes at a pivotal moment, as Mr. Trump prepares to meet with President Xi Jinping of China at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Argentina this month and as the White House economic team considers whether to impose tariffs on cars from Europe, Japan and other nations.”
–Alan Rappeport and Glenn Thrush, “Trump’s Trade War Prompts Fight Among Top Economic Advisers,” The New York Times online, November 13, 2018