The United States has long used trade as a "strategic tool" in negotiations, as access to its economy is a "privilege" for other nations, Sen. Bill Hagerty said Sunday, while defending President-elect Donald Trump's plans for tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada, and other nations.
"If you think about it, we’ve made access to this economy a strategic tool ever since World War II," the Tennessee Republican told NBC News' "Meet the Press."
Trump has threatened 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada if action is not taken on immigration and drug imports, and Saturday said he would impose a 100% tariff on nations that threaten to undermine the U.S. dollar.
"Right now, the United States has the most open market of any major economy in the world," Hagerty said Sunday. "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."
Canada and Mexico, Hagerty said, engage 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," adding that their actions need to stop.
"President Trump is going to use every lever at his disposal to do it," Hagerty said. "I think it’s absolutely appropriate to use tariffs as one of those tools. It’s a major tool."
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., also on Sunday's program, criticized Trump's tariff threats as a "distraction."
"Donald Trump has no idea how to use tariffs in order to create American jobs," he said. "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."
Meanwhile, Hagerty praised two of Trump's Cabinet picks who are raising concerns from senators: Kash Patel as FBI director and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence.
"There are serious problems at the FBI," he said about Patel. "The American public knows it. They expect to see sweeping change, and Kash Patel is just the type of person to do it."
He also dismissed the concerns about Gabbard and her revelation in 2017 that she met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which is under renewed scrutiny.
"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," Hagerty said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.