In a lengthy appearance on MSNB’s “Squawk Box” this morning, White House adviser Peter Navarro said that countries need to reduce their nontariff barriers to American exports including U.S. soybeans and meat in order to please the Trump administration. 

The value added tax or VAT in the European Union is one of those nontariff barriers, he said.

Navarro said that reducing or eliminating trade deficits and encouraging manufacturing in the United States are the administration’s main goals and that getting tariffs to zero will not solve the problem when countries use nontariff barriers to keep out U.S. products. 

He also mentioned the problems that the U.S. shrimp industry faces in competition with Vietnam’s shrimp industry.