White House trade advisor Peter Navarro on Monday blasted executives at Eastman Kodak for their handling of a government loan to produce pharmaceutical ingredients in the United States.
“Based on what I’m seeing, what happened at Kodak was probably the dumbest decisions made by executives in corporate history,” Navarro said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“You can’t fix stupid,” Navarro added. “You can’t even anticipate that degree of stupidity.”
The $765 million government loan to Kodak has since been put on pause as the Securities and Exchange Commission investigates the company’s disclosure of the deal, which was officially announced on July 28.
Shares of the Kodak, known for producing camera film, skyrocketed on news of the pharmaceutical loan. The stock had been languishing around $2 per share for months prior. It traded as high as $60 per share the day after the deal.
However, it also was observed that trading activity of Kodak’s stock picked up significantly the day prior to the official announcement.
Navarro has touted the importance of relocating the pharmaceutical supply chain in the U.S., especially in a coronavirus world.
He stressed the investigation of potential wrongdoing by Kodak should run its course. “We don’t know why that happened or what they did. Let the investigation happen. Kodak’s doing an internal one as well but we’re moving forward. We’re not looking in the rear view mirror.”
“I’ve got 30 projects on my board across the street,” Navarro added.
