The economist whose ideas guide Trump the most

I say it is Peter Navarro, of UC Irvine, and here is my Bloomberg View profile of him.  Excerpt:

Trump praised a Navarro book and documentary film critical of China, and while the economist has never met the candidate, he describes a campaign role as follows: “I now work closely with the campaign on issues related to the economy, trade, China, and foreign policy in Asia.” He endorsed and defended Trump in a March essay, and given that relatively few academic economists have embraced the Trump candidacy, Navarro is plausibly a leading candidate for a top job in a Trump administration.

…Navarro’s other writings on China have hovered between these extremes of tone, but in general he has been pushing the line that the U.S. should be tough on trade, crack down on intellectual property theft, tax Chinese exports, combat Chinese mercantilism, bring jobs home, and yes, make America great again. If you want to read one thinker to understand Trump on China, it is Navarro.

There is much more at the link, including a discussion of Navarro’s academic career (he has many good pieces in a Chicago School, public choice, law and economics vein), his writings on investing (unreliable and oversold), and how he is a significant transitional figure for the Republican Party on moving from a mostly pro-China attitude to extreme China skepticism.  It is very easy for me to imagine the not-yet-on-the-radar-screen Navarro having one of the leading economic roles in a Trump Administration, do read the whole thing it may be (p = 0.3) our future.