Does the Trump administration want a trade war with its closest allies? To see the way it has bullied and threatened close allies with steel and aluminum tariffs, one might conclude it doesn't care. Not so, according to Peter Navarro, the president's top trade adviser. On "Quest Means Business," he told me that the administration was making great gains. He pointed to the new expanded free trade agreement with South Korea as an example of the strategy's success. Navarro is the principal architect of Trump's more muscular trade policy. He claims the United States has been deeply disadvantaged by existing treaties. He expects other countries will also acknowledge the unfairness of the current situation and strike new deals with America. But he denies being a protectionist, as the phrase is pejoratively used. Standing up for American companies is not, in his view, protectionist. None of which is probably helpful to the markets. Stocks like Boeing and Caterpillar continue to be hit hard because of the prospect of tariffs. And to those surprised by the administration's measures, Navarro says they shouldn't have been. The president was very clear about what he was intending to do. Now he's simply getting on and doing it. Can't argue with that. | 
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