'We Want Fairness': White House Trade Adviser Navarro Says Trump Administration Is Focused On 'Non-Tariff Cheating'

The Trump administration is holding firm in its stance on tariffs as broader markets continue to spiral lower into bear market territory.

What Happened: On Monday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” White House trade adviser Peter Navarro suggested that tariffed countries will need to bring a lot to the table to negotiate.

"Let's take Vietnam. When they come to us and say ‘we'll go to zero tariffs,’ that means nothing to us because it's the non-tariff cheating that matters," Navarro said.

Last week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC that the move from the Trump Administration is not just in response to tariffs, it's also in response to "non-tariff trade barriers."

Navarro on Monday said these trade barriers include Chinese products evading taxes through transshipments to Vietnam, intellectual property theft, currency manipulation and value-based consumption taxes called VATs.

“Vietnam has a 10% VAT. Europe has a 19% VAT. We can’t compete against that,” he said.

Related Link: Tariffs Threaten To End Era Of Cheap Clothing — Apparel Industry Faces Major Price Shock Under Trump Policy

Navarro later acknowledged that a zero-tariff offer from Vietnam would be a “small first start.” President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social last week that General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam had offered to cut tariffs to zero if they can come to terms with the U.S.

Trump announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs on several countries last week that has raised concerns over higher prices for consumers, weakening demand and a potential recession. Trump slapped a 46% tariff on imports from Vietnam.

“What do we want from them? We want fairness. We don’t want them to kill American workers by inundating us with this non-tariff cheating,” Navarro said.

“It would be really refreshing to have the media talk more about that. This zero-tariff thing, it’s a misdirection … it’s the non-tariff barriers, the non-tariff barrier cheating.”

The SPDR S&P 500 SPY was down about 1.06% at $499.84 at the time of publication, but well off the lows of the session, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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