Sen. Bill Hagerty on Sunday said he supported President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to impose tariffs on a number of countries, including Canada and Mexico, pointing to the long history of the United States’ use of trade. strategic tool” for decades.
“Access to our economy is a privilege,” Hagerty said in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker. “If you think about it, we’ve made access to this economy a strategic tool since World War II.”
“Now that the United States has the most open market of any major economy in the world, we need to take a very hard look at countries that don’t have our best interests at heart, countries that allow our borders to be violated. , and use these tariffs as a tool to achieve our goals,” Hagerty added.
His comments come as Trump announced last week that he would try to implement it 25% off products from Canada and Mexico and said he would apply 100% tariffs to BRICS countries if they try to create their own currency to trade.
The threats caused reactions, including from world leaders phone call Between Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum A trip to Mar-a-Lago From Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Hagerty supported Trump’s strategy with Canada and Mexico, saying the two nations are “behaving,” meaning letting a flood of fentanyl cross our border, allowing people to flood into our country, millions of people, undocumented, illegal. .”
“This has to be stopped, and President Trump will use every lever at his disposal to do that. And I think it’s absolutely appropriate to use tariffs as one of those tools. It’s a key tool,” Hagerty added.
Minutes after Hagerty appeared on the program, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., also spoke to Meet the Press about Trump’s tariff proposals, calling them a “distraction.”
“Donald Trump has no idea how to use tariffs to create American jobs,” Murphy said. “Tariffs distract from what the real agenda is to use the government to dramatically increase the wealth of his cabinet and friends of this cabinet.”
Hagerty also spoke about two of Trump’s cabinet picks Saturday to lead the Federal Intelligence Service, including former Trump administration official Kash Patel and President-elect Tulsi Gabbard, which has raised concerns among some senators. He was elected to the position of Director of National Intelligence.
Hagerty praised Patel, who has little experience in federal law enforcement, telling Welker, “The FBI has serious problems, and the American public knows that. They expect to see radical change, and Kash Patel is the type of person to do that.”
The senator also expressed concerns about Gabbard, who announced in 2017 that it was him Secret meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad During the visit to the region as a meeting again under investigation An attack by rebels is taking place in Aleppo.
Gabbard, who served as a Democrat in Congress, was also charged parroted Russian propaganda.
Hagerty dismissed concerns about Gabbard, saying he plans to vote for her anyway.
“I’m not familiar with the meetings he’s held, and I certainly don’t have to agree with every single one of President Trump’s nominees, but I’m here to support them,” he said.