Fear: Trump in the White House(110)
“What’s this?”
“In response to your 16 topics,” Dowd said. “And we kind of make our case. I leave the door open. I’m going to push for some specific questions. Think about it. You want to talk about it, tell Bob let’s get together.”
CHAPTER
41
In a meeting in January 2018, Navarro, Ross, Cohn and Porter gathered in the Oval Office. After months of arguing about tariffs from entrenched positions, debates had become heated and sharp.
Cohn, backed by Porter, rehashed the economic arguments and the geopolitical national security arguments. He talked about how tariffs risked roiling the markets and jeopardizing a lot of the stock market gains. He said the tariffs would be, in effect, a tax on American consumers. Tariffs would take away a lot of the good that Trump had done through tax and regulatory reform.
You’re the globalist, Trump said. I don’t even care what you think anymore, Gary.
Trump shooed him away. Cohn retreated to a couch.
Navarro and Porter picked up the debate, with Ross interjecting on Navarro’s side from time to time. Navarro argued that tariffs would raise revenues and be beloved by businesses and unions. He said it would be a great way for Trump to get union support and help his base in advance of the 2018 midterm election.
Porter brought up the Bush tariffs and the net job loss that had occurred. In the years since, Porter argued, downstream industries that consumed and relied on steel—builders and pipelines and the auto industry—had expanded, while there was little potential for expansion of steel manufacturing and production jobs. The job losses under new tariffs would be even more pronounced than the ones during the Bush administration.
Porter said Navarro’s belief that tariffs would be met with widespread acclaim was “just dead wrong.” Many businesses would oppose tariffs because they were buyers and consumers of steel.
“The automakers are going to hate this,” Porter said. “They have narrow margins, and this is going to raise their costs.” Pipeline makers too. “We’re opening up all of these new federal public lands and offshore drilling. It requires people building pipelines.
“And the unions,” Porter said. “Well, that’s crazy. Sure, the steel union is going to love this, but the United Auto Workers isn’t going to like this. The Building and Construction Trades isn’t going to like this. It’s going to up their costs.”
Porter ordinarily tried to remain an honest broker who facilitated the discussion. When he had a strong view, he tended to wait until he was one-on-one with the president. Now he was outing himself as a free trader.
Navarro countered each argument as strenuously as Porter made it. Chief of Staff John Kelly walked into the room midway through the meeting. The president was watching the back-and-forth avidly.
What are you, an economist now? Trump asked Porter after he and Navarro had taken verbal swings at each other for nearly half an hour. What do you know about economics? You’re a lawyer.
Porter said he had studied and tutored others in economics while he was at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He pointed out that many of his arguments weren’t strictly economic.
“I always knew Gary was a fucking globalist,” Trump said. “I didn’t know you were such a fucking globalist, Rob.”
Trump turned to Kelly. Get a load of this guy. He’s a globalist!
Kelly nodded and smiled. He wanted this meeting wrapped up.
The meeting broke up without a real resolution except to remind Trump that he had signed a decision memo to move forward on the 301 investigation with China and announced it. That had to come before steel tariffs. That was the strategy and agreement.
* * *
Porter left the White House on February 7 after two ex-wives went public with allegations that he had physically abused them. One released a photo showing a black eye that she said Porter gave her. Each, one to the press and one in a blog post, gave graphic descriptions of domestic abuse.
Porter quickly concluded it would be best for all—his former spouses, his family and close friends, the White House and himself—to resign. He wanted to focus on repairing relationships and healing.
The New York Times wrote, “Abuse Claims End Star’s Rise in White House” and “Aide’s Clean-Cut Image Belied His Hot Temper, Former Colleagues Say.”
In a statement, Porter said, “I took the photos given to the media nearly 15 years ago, and the reality behind them is nowhere close to what is being described.”
“Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation,” Trump tweeted.
The Washington Post editorial board accused the White House of “shrugging off domestic violence” and The New York Times said “Trump Appears to Doubt the #MeToo Movement.”
Cohn saw that one of the main restraining influences on Trump was now gone.
* * *
After 6:30 on the night of Wednesday, February 28, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro went to the Oval Office and convinced the president to move ahead with steel tariffs before the 301 investigation was complete, imploding the whole trade strategy. Ross had earlier produced a study maintaining that the rising imports of steel and aluminum were a threat to the national security, giving Trump the authority to impose them without Congress.