Tariffs should be part of U.S. trade policy, Trump foe Warren says

[March 12, 2018]  By Pete Schroeder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has traded barbs with President Donald Trump, said on Sunday she's "not afraid of tariffs," but stopped short of endorsing his decision to launch steep tariffs on steel and aluminum.

In several television interviews, Warren, who has been touted as a potential 2020 presidential candidate, said she saw a role for tariffs as part of U.S. trade policy.

"I am not afraid of tariffs," she said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program. "We need a comprehensive rethinking of our trade policy."

Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said she was glad Trump agreed to exempt Canada and Mexico from the tariffs, but urged policymakers to think beyond a handful of particular industries when it comes to overhauling trade policy.

"I think that our trade deals have been negotiated for a very, very long time now to benefit large, multinational corporations, not to benefit the American worker," she said.

Trump's tariffs, which he announced last Thursday, were met with swift opposition from many of the president's fellow Republicans who say they will harm the economy. But Democrats have struck a more measured tone, as many members of the party's progressive wing have long been critical of free trade agreements they believe harm U.S. workers.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) questions Alex Azar (not pictured) during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on his nomination to be Health and Human Services secretary on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., November 29, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

Warren's comments came one day after Trump again derided her as "Pocahontas" at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, referring to her having claimed Cherokee and Delaware Indian heritage.

Warren batted away speculation that she planned to run for president in 2020. She is already running for re-election to the Senate in 2018. "I am not running for president of the United States," she said on NBC.

(Reporting by Pete Schroeder)

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