Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren blasted Trump on his tariffs on foreign countries because they have not had the desired effect, Trump claimed, since trade deficits are the same, and if he continues on the same path, the American people's low opinion of him will continue to fall.
Sen. Warren joined CNBC to discuss.
Sara Eisen started out taking the administration's positions, which have failed miserably after a full year in office.
EISEN: I mean, you know, I don't want to be, you know, too defensive of tariffs here, but what the Trump administration would say is that they're looking for other mechanisms to do this because they have successfully negotiated a number of trade deals.
He wants leverage with trading partners to help close the trade deficit, help raise revenues, to help fight our ballooning debt, and help give us more deals for investments into America for American manufacturing.
Those are all things you can get behind.
None of what Eisen claimed Trump wanted has come to fruition except for raising money from tariffs, which is a tax on US consumers.
Sen. Warren responded in kind.
WARREN: So let's start out with the fact that from Trump's liberation day, we actually have seen the trade deficit widen, not narrow, but more to the point, we're supposed to be trying to run this economy, at least I think we should be, to help American families.
And a chaotic trade policy that is tariffs are up, tariffs are down, tariffs are sideways, based on whether or not you're willing to do business with Trump cryptocurrency, or based on whether or not you had a nasty phone call with the president of the United States, that isn't helping our economy.
It's not helping our small businesses. And it's costing American families money. That's documented.
And what Donald Trump wants to do is more of the same. And I think he's going to get the same response from American families.
And that is, they don't like it, and they don't trust him with the economy.
And they're right.
Trump's approval rating is in the gutter because of his actions and his policies.
As Warren said, the public doesn't trust him with the economy, and if he gives them more of the same, they will hate it even more than they do now, because it only compounds the misery they're facing today.
