White House trade adviser Peter Navarro’s awkward response to a question about the Trump administration selling AI chips to China caused Maria Bartiromo to bust out laughing.
Bartiromo, the Trump-friendly Fox Business and Fox News host, mentioned how the Trump administration last year permitted Nvidia to sell its top-of-the-line chips to Chinese companies. Critics say that decision could help boost China’s technological capabilities at the expense of the U.S. and Navarro seemed skeptical as well—even if he didn’t say so outright.
Navarro, who has pushed for hardline trade policies toward China, was asked if he thought the Trump administration’s decision was a good one.
“We are under attack from China—weaponized. We’ve got to watch ourselves. This stuff with chips, AI, that’s a whole different conversation I’ll be having coming back," he said on Mornings with Maria.
“Bad idea?” Bartiromo asked, prompting Navarro to put his hand out, suggesting he didn’t want to talk about it.
“I’m going to stay in my own lane on that,” he said, drawing laughter from Bartiromo.
“You’re not happy about it!” she said.
“It’s a serious issue, and we’ve got to be very careful about what we’re giving to the Chinese. We’ve got to be more careful,” Navarro, 76, replied.
Navarro then touted his work to develop rare-earth minerals in the U.S. as part of a strategy for staying ahead of China in advanced technologies.
Navarro reportedly pushed for the Pentagon to give a $620 million loan to a rare-earth magnet startup called Vulcan. The venture capital firm 1789 Capital, which Donald Trump Jr. backs, reportedly acquired a stake in the company three months before the loan was announced.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“China’s going to regret the day they tried to weaponize critical minerals and rare-earths,” Navarro told Bartiromo. “They showed who they were.”
