Ted Cruz alleges Vance, Navarro blocked India trade-deal, slams Trump tariff policy in leaked recording: Report

Cruz exposes internal friction over tariffs, India

Cracks within the Trump administration have come into sharp focus following the leak of audio recordings in which Senator Ted Cruz openly criticised Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump’s tariff strategy. The recordings also revealed Cruz accusing Vance and White House adviser Peter Navarro of blocking a potential trade agreement with India, Axios reported.

The nearly 10-minute tapes, obtained by Axios from a Republican source, date back to early and mid-2025 and capture Cruz speaking to private donors. In the sessions, he cast himself as a traditional free-trade, pro-interventionist Republican, positioning for a possible 2028 primary challenge against the more cautious Vance.

Cruz repeatedly described Vance as a political extension of conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. “Tucker created JD. JD is Tucker’s protégé, and they are one and the same,” he told donors, echoing earlier criticisms of Carlson’s alleged anti-Israel stance.

On tariffs, Cruz painted a dire picture for Trump. He recounted a late-night April 2025 call, shortly after the president announced his protectionist measures, in which he and other senators urged Trump to reconsider. “It did not go well,” Cruz said. “Trump was yelling, cursing… Trump was in a bad mood. I've been in conversations where he was very happy. This was not one of them,” Axios reported.

According to Axios report, Cruz warned that continuing on the tariff path could devastate the economy: “President, if we get to November of [2026] and people's 401(k)s are down 30% and prices are up 10–20% at the supermarket, we're going to go into Election Day, face a bloodbath. You're going to lose the House, you're going to lose the Senate, you're going to spend the next two years being impeached every single week.”

Trump’s response, according to Cruz, was blunt: “**** you, Ted.”

The senator also revealed the internal pushback he faced on trade deals with India. He specifically called out Navarro, Vance, and “sometimes” Trump as resisting the initiative, highlighting the tension over the administration’s foreign economic policy.

Beyond trade, Cruz accused Vance and Carlson of orchestrating the removal of former national security adviser Mike Waltz, who supported bombing Iran. “Waltz supported being vigorous against Iran and bombing Iran — and Tucker and JD took Mike out,” Cruz said. He also alleged the duo backed the appointment of Army veteran Daniel Davis to a senior intelligence post, calling him “a guy who viciously hates Israel,” before Davis was quickly removed.

A spokesperson for Cruz defended the senator, calling him “the president’s greatest ally in the Senate” and noting that his battles include fighting staffers who “try to enter the administration despite disagreeing with the president and seeking to undermine his foreign policy.” The statement added that attempts to sow division were “pathetic and getting boring.”

Tucker Carlson, meanwhile, denied involvement in either Waltz’s ouster or Davis’s appointment when approached by Axios.

The recordings provide a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into the internal frictions of the Trump administration, revealing disputes over tariffs, trade policy with India, and key personnel decisions—all of which could shape the party’s trajectory heading into the 2028 elections.