Peter Kent Navarro is an American economist who currently serves as the Assistant to the President, Director of Trade and Industrial Policy, Director of the White House National Trade Council, a newly created entity in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, which was then folded into the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, a new role established by executive order on April 29, 2017. A professor emeritus of economics and public policy at the Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine, Navarro is the author or co-author of over a dozen books, including Death by China. He has published peer-reviewed economics research on energy policy, charity, deregulation and the economics of trash collection.