Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., on Sunday said he is supportive of President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to impose tariffs on imports from a number of nations, including Canada and Mexico, pointing to the long history of the U.S. using trade as a “strategic tool” for decades.
“Access to our economy is a privilege,” Hagerty said during an interview with moderator Kristen Welker on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “If you think about it, we’ve made access to this economy a strategic tool ever since World War II.”
“Right now, 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 are allowing our borders to be violated, and use those tariffs as a tool to achieve our ends,” Hagerty added.
His comments come as Trump spent the last week announcing that he would seek to impose 25% tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico and that he would impose 100% tariffs on imports from BRICS countries if they sought to create their own currency to trade in.
The threats prompted a flurry of reactions from world leaders, including a phone call between Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and a visit to Mar-a-Lago from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Hagerty backed Trump’s strategy with Canada and Mexico, saying that the two nations are engaging in “behavior” that is “letting fentanyl flood into our border, that is allowing people to flood into our country, millions of people, undocumented, illegal people.”
“It needs to stop, and President Trump is going to use every lever at his disposal to do it. And I think it’s absolutely appropriate to use tariffs as one of those tools. It’s a major 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, blasting them as “a distraction.”
“Donald Trump has no idea how to use tariffs in order to create American jobs,” Murphy said. “The tariffs are a distraction from what the real agenda is going to be, to be able to use government in order to dramatically increase the wealth of his Cabinet and the friends of that Cabinet.”
Hagerty also spoke about two of Trump’s Cabinet picks who have raised concerns from some senators, including Kash Patel, a former Trump administration official whom Trump chose Saturday to lead the FBI, and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, whom the president-elect tapped for director of national intelligence.
Hagerty praised Patel, who has little experience in federal law enforcement, telling Welker, “There are serious problems at the FBI. The American public knows it. They expect to see sweeping change, and Kash Patel is just the type of person to do it.”
The senator also addressed concerns about Gabbard, who revealed in 2017 that she had a secret meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a visit to the region, a meeting that’s under renewed scrutiny as a rebel offensive takes place in Aleppo.
Gabbard, who served in Congress as a Democrat, has also been accused of parroting Russian propaganda.
Hagerty dismissed concerns about Gabbard, saying he plans to vote for her anyway.
“I’m not familiar with the meetings that she’s had, and I certainly don’t have to agree with every point of every one of President Trump’s nominees, but I am here to support them,” he said.
