By Mary Jones | Saturday, April 05, 2025 | 5 min read
In the early days of Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign, as the candidate outlined his broad-brush ideas about being “tough on China” and tackling America’s trade imbalance, there was a surprising gap: no formal economic team. According to insiders familiar with that chapter of the campaign, Trump turned to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with a simple directive — find someone who could give his trade ideas some intellectual firepower.
Kushner’s search didn’t begin in the halls of academia or among seasoned policy veterans. Instead, he opened up Amazon.com and started scrolling. He wasn’t looking to read—just browsing book covers. That’s when one title jumped out at him: Death by China, co-authored by Peter Navarro. The name alone was enough. Intrigued by the tough-sounding message, Kushner reached out directly to Navarro. Within a short time, Navarro was advising the campaign.
Navarro, already known for his outspoken criticism of China’s trade practices, quickly became a key voice behind Trump’s protectionist agenda. He pushed for tariffs on steel, aluminum, and a wide range of Chinese imports—policies that would go on to redefine U.S. trade relations and prompt harsh retaliatory measures from global partners.
But Navarro’s case for tariffs rested, in part, on the supposed backing of an expert named Ron Vara—an economist he cited frequently in his books to bolster his arguments. There was just one problem: Ron Vara wasn’t real. In fact, “Ron Vara” is an anagram of “Navarro.” The fictional economist was Navarro’s own invention.
According to reporting by The New York Times and Vanity Fair, Navarro used the name in at least six publications. A memo supposedly authored by Vara even circulated among officials in Washington, advising Trump to “ride the tariffs to victory.” While Navarro has later claimed the character was meant as satire or a literary device, the inclusion of a made-up expert in serious policy work raised eyebrows—especially when those ideas helped steer national economic decisions.
The consequences of those decisions were very real. American farmers took major hits as China imposed retaliatory tariffs. U.S. manufacturers grappled with rising costs as materials became more expensive. Analysts estimate that the tariff wars wiped out as much as $6 trillion in global market value during Trump’s time in office. The World Trade Organization and multiple business groups criticized the approach as chaotic and disconnected from long-term strategy.
Public opinion on Donald Trump’s economic strategy is growing more skeptical by the day. Recent polling from Reuters and Ipsos shows more than half of Americans disapprove of his trade policies. Sixty percent say they’re worried about rising costs of living, and many express little confidence in the administration’s ability to manage economic policy effectively.
And they may have reason to worry. Since Trump announced a fresh wave of tariffs, global markets have wobbled, and some of the world’s richest individuals have watched billions vanish from their portfolios. It’s been especially painful for tech billionaires whose companies rely heavily on international trade.
Elon Musk tops the list. On February 3, 2025, Tesla’s stock plunged 5%, wiping out roughly $11.8 billion from Musk’s net worth in just one day. Tesla’s global supply chain makes it particularly vulnerable to import taxes. Even the company’s CFO, Vaibhav Taneja, admitted the tariffs would likely dent profitability moving forward.
Jeff Bezos wasn’t spared either. Since Trump returned to the national stage, Amazon stock has taken a 14% hit, costing Bezos an estimated $29 billion. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have collectively lost $50 billion as Alphabet’s shares dropped more than 7%, thanks to fears of broader international retaliation. Mark Zuckerberg also saw Meta’s gains evaporate, with his personal fortune falling by $7.6 billion since January.
These eye-popping figures highlight more than just Wall Street turbulence—they point to the tangible consequences of trade policy shaped behind closed doors, often with eyebrow-raising origins.
Take Peter Navarro, for instance. Despite ongoing controversy about the legitimacy of his academic sources, he remained a central figure in Trump’s inner circle, advising on trade, manufacturing, and even pandemic-related supply chains. His biggest influence, however, was helping to shape Trump’s aggressive tariff approach—a policy with global implications.
But here’s the twist: Navarro built much of his pro-tariff argument on the words of a so-called expert named Ron Vara. The problem? Ron Vara doesn’t exist. He’s a fictional character, an anagram of “Navarro,” invented by Navarro himself and cited in at least six of his own books. At one point, a memo from Vara even circulated around Washington, pushing the idea that Trump could “ride the tariffs to victory.”
Navarro later brushed off Ron Vara as a joke or a literary tool. But the line between satire and policy blurred when those fabricated views helped shape real economic decisions—ones that rattled global markets and cost real money.
Still, Navarro’s influence never quite faded. And as Trump flirts with another run for office, there are signs those same ideas—fictional footnotes and all—could be back in the spotlight. With trillions lost and entire industries disrupted, many are asking not just whether the trade war was effective, but whether it was built on anything credible at all.
Neither Navarro nor Jared Kushner—who famously discovered Navarro’s book Death by China while browsing Amazon—have commented on the resurfacing of the Ron Vara saga. But as another election season approaches, voters and economists alike are taking a hard look at how pivotal policy was crafted.
Sometimes, it seems, it all begins with a catchy book title and a phone call.
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