WATCH: Dem senator agrees with GOP that Trump's making progress on trade war

Fox News

2 days ago

Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman admitted that his party had gotten it wrong about President Donald Trump's tariffs, saying that, so far, the U.S. trade war is "going well."
Asked by Fox News Digital whether he thought the Trump administration was winning the trade war, Fetterman responded, "Absolutely."
"I'm a huge fan of Bill Maher, and I mean, I think he's really one of the oracles for my party, and he acknowledged it, it's like, hey, he thought that the tariffs were going to tank the economy, and then he acknowledged that it didn't," said Fetterman.
"So, for me," he went on, "it seems like the E.U. thing has been going well, and I guess we'll see how it happens with China."
This comes as Trump is increasing the tariff on Canada from 25% to 35% beginning on Friday, after the U.S. neighbor to the north failed to help curb the imports of fentanyl and other illicit drugs. The White House noted that Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to increase the tariff in an effort to hold Canada accountable for its role in the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S.
Additionally, Trump signed another executive order on Thursday to modify the reciprocal tariff rates for some countries to further address the United States' trade deficits. The action reflects Trump's efforts to protect the U.S. from foreign threats to national security and the economy by securing "fair, balanced and reciprocal trade relationships," the White House said.
Earlier this year, Trump announced an additional 10% tariff on all countries as well as higher tariffs for countries the U.S. has large trade deficits with. The tariffs became effective on April 9. Since then, Trump and his team have since made several trade deals with several countries.
The U.S. struck a deal with the European Union in which the EU agreed to purchase $750 billion in U.S. energy and make new investments of $600 billion by 2028. The EU also agreed to accept a 15% tariff rate. The U.S. also made a deal with Japan, which agreed to invest $550 billion in the U.S. to rebuild and expand core American industries. Japan also agreed to further its own market to U.S. exports, and like the EU, Japan agreed to a baseline 15% tariff rate.
However, many Democrats are digging in their heels against Trump's tariffs strategy, saying the negative effects are still on the horizon.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., forecast that, despite the increased revenue, "within a few weeks or months, you'll start seeing significant increases in most things you buy. And also, you will see disruption in terms of a lot of our industries, because they're not able to access product or supply."
"When you have across-the-board tariffs, it does operate like a national sales tax, and I think people are going to be more and more hurt," predicted Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
"This is the president who said he was going to come in and reduce prices. Prices are going to rise, and they're going to rise more over time," said Van Hollen.
Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren said that "Donald Trump may beat his chest and say, 'Man, I made him take a 15% tariff or 25% tariff,' but also understand that every one of those trading partners is now looking hard all around the rest of the world to find other customers, because Donald Trump is signaling loud and clear that the United States under Donald Trump is not a reliable trading partner. And that's not good for any of us."
Warren also claimed that Trump's tariffs are the reason the Federal Reserve has not lowered U.S. interest rates.
"Jerome Powell said last month that he would have lowered interest rates back in February if it hadn't been for the chaos that Donald Trump was creating over trade. And the consequence has been that American families have, for six months now, been paying more on credit cards, more on car loans, more home mortgages, all because Donald Trump has created chaos," she said.
Meanwhile, Republicans whom Fox News Digital spoke with urged the president to double down on his tariff strategy.
"I think it's exactly the right approach. It's what I have been urging the president to do, and I think the successes he's winning are big wins for America," said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
In response to Democrats still predicting economic fallout because of the tariffs, Cruz sarcastically remarked, "I'm shocked, shocked that Democrats are rooting for the economy to do badly under President Trump."
"It'd be nice if some Democrats would put their partisan hatred for Trump aside and actually start working together for American workers and American jobs. Unfortunately, I don't see a whole lot of Democrats interested in doing that right now," said Cruz.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., while agreeing that the tariffs have been successful, voiced that he hopes the goal is to ultimately achieve reciprocal zero percent tariffs between the U.S. and its trade partners.
"Clearly, the president got a good deal from one perspective. The Europeans just caved, they did. Fifteen percent tariffs on them, zero on us, commitment to invest in our country. But the part of the deal I like the most, the E.U. and the president agreed that a whole bunch of goods would be tariff-free. That is, no American tariffs and no E.U. tariffs. It's called reciprocity, and ideal reciprocity is zero on both sides," he explained.
"That's what I would like us to achieve in all the trade deals," Kennedy explained. "Let the free enterprise system work. May the best product at the best price win. That, to me, would be the perfect situation."