Trump executive order on pharmaceutical regulations a "beautiful thing," trade adviser says

President Trump is expected to sign an executive order Thursday that White House trade adviser Peter Navarro touted as "pure Trump" in an interview with "CBS This Morning."

"What this executive order does, it's a beautiful thing," Navarro said. "It sweeps away some of the regulatory barriers to traditional manufacturing, pharmaceuticals on our shores here. And innovation so we can keep drugs' prices down."

The order will require the U.S. government to buy medicines it deems "essential" from American companies, and is also designed to roll back regulations on drug manufacturing.

"If we've learned anything in this pandemic, it's that we are dangerously dependent for our pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and equipment on the rest of the world," Navarro claimed.

He said Mr. Trump's order could not only combat the pandemic's economic effects but "possibly future problems" by bringing "the supply chain home."

"This package is important. It can't just be writing checks to people now. It's also got to be putting in place structural choices so that we can rebuild our economy," he said.

Mr. Trump is set to travel to northern Ohio Thursday where he will visit a Whirlpool appliance factory. The trip comes as a new report from payroll company ADP indicated that jobs added by U.S. companies in June fell far short of the increase economists expected.

Massive job losses coupled with the expiration of a federal unemployment benefits boost has left many Americans struggling as coronavirus cases surge in several states.

Navarro declined to comment on when a new deal might be reached, but defended Mr. Trump as "a working-class president" who "knows the pain out there in the heartland."

When asked about the president's idea of payroll tax cuts, Navarro said he was "not sure that there's a continued focus on it" but said it was "one of the most effective ways to get money into the pockets of the American people."

"If you are a worker and there's a payroll tax cut, it's effectively a 12% wage hike," he said. "I have great faith in our chief of staff, Mark Meadows, leading this. And it looks like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are, between the rhetoric, they're coming together."

Navarro is slated to accompany Mr. Trump on his trip to Ohio, and said he is expecting a "great speech."