FILE PHOTO: White House trade adviser Peter Navarro listens to a news conference about a presidential executive order relating to military veterans outside of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, U.S. March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Monday dismissed reports that the Trump administration was considering delisting Chinese companies from U.S. stock exchanges as “fake news.”
Asked in particular about a Bloomberg News report on the matter, Navarro said told CNBC: “That story, which appeared in Bloomberg: I’ve read it far more carefully than it was written,” Navarro told CNBC. “Over half of it was highly inaccurate or simply flat-out false.”
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is considering the move, three sources briefed on the matter said on Friday, in what would be a radical escalation of U.S.-China trade tensions.
Bloomberg News first reported last week that the administration was considering limits to U.S. investors’ portfolios, including delisting the Chinese companies.
“It was really irresponsible journalism and the problem we have here … these bad stories push out the good,” Navarro added. “And what happens is as soon as Bloomberg puts it out there, there’s pressure from others to put it out there.
“This story was just so full of inaccuracies and in terms of the truth of the matter, what the Treasury said I think was accurate,” he said.
Bloomberg News was not immediately available to comment.
Any such move by the Trump administration would be part of a broader effort to limit U.S. investment in Chinese companies, two of the sources said. One said it was motivated by the Trump administration’s growing security concerns about the companies’ activities.
Reporting by Makini Brice and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Toby Chopra
