The man who masterminded Donald Trump‘s tariffs regime says Britain is now a ‘compliant servant of communist China‘ that faces having its ‘blood sucked’ by leaders in Beijing.
Economist Peter Navarro’s influence on the President has helped redraw the boundaries of global trade over the past month.
Navarro is known for his hostility towards China and claims that, in the face of overwhelming US tariffs of 145 per cent against the Asian superpower, the Chinese may turn their attentions towards the UK.
‘If the Chinese vampire can’t suck the American blood, it’s going to suck the UK blood and the EU blood,’ he told The Telegraph.
Navarro said the present moment was ‘a very dangerous time for the world economies’ in terms of their exposure to Chinese money.
He added: ‘And let’s face it, the UK has been an all too compliant servant of the Chinese Communist Party because of the string-laden gifts that China gives as a way of spreading its soft power.’
The decision by China’s Jingye Steel to shutter the Scunthorpe steel works has reinforced fears about the Chinese government’s power in the UK.
The UK government has now taken control of the Scunthorpe site and senior figures inside the Labour Party have urged the government to carry out a full review of Chinese investment in critical UK infrastructure and industry.
Economist Peter Navarro, the man behind Donald Trump ‘s tariffs regime, says Britain is now a ‘compliant servant of communist China’ that faces having its ‘blood sucked’ by leaders in Beijing
The decision by China’s Jingye Steel to shutter the blast furnaces (pictured) at Scunthorpe Steelworks has reinforced fears about the Chinese government’s power in the UK
Senior figures inside the Labour Party have urged the government to carry out a full review of Chinese investment in critical UK infrastructure and industry. Pictured: General Secretary and Chinese President Xi Jinping in December 2022
Office for National Statistics data suggests Chinese investment in the UK in 2023 totaled around £4.3billion – only a tiny percentage of the £2 trillion overseas investment in the British economy in that year.
However, experts believe that is a significant underrepresentation of the Chinese position since the data focuses on the source of the immediate investment and now where the money ultimately comes from.
Navarro has rocketed to notoriety over the last month as President Trump’s economic adviser and the man behind Donald Trump’s tariff levies on nations around the world.
He originally began interacting with Trump’s team in 2011 and was recruited to be economic policy adviser to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign after the President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner saw his book Death by China on Amazon.
Both the chancellor Rachel Reeves and foreign secretary David Lammy have visited China in the name of what the Starmer administation has dubbed ‘pragmatic re-engagement’ with the Chinese government.
It has been suggested that Mr Navarro’s anti-China stance could complicate attempts to forge a new trade deal between the UK and their transatlantic partners.
However, the economist said that the trade discussions were ‘moving in Trump time, which is to say as swiftly as possible’.
He warned that the UK and Europe needed to remain ‘very vigilant about becoming dumping grounds for the products that China would otherwise sell to America.’
