While most Democrats on Capitol Hill continue to oppose President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff policy, one high-profile Democrat is breaking ranks—saying the strategy may actually be working.
Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat, openly acknowledged that his party may have misjudged Trump’s approach to the trade war, telling Fox News Digital that, so far, things are “going well.”
Asked whether he believed the Trump administration was winning the trade war, Fetterman responded without hesitation: “Absolutely.”
“I’m a huge fan of Bill Maher, and I mean, I think he’s really one of the oracles for my party,” Fetterman said. “He acknowledged it—he thought that the tariffs were going to tank the economy, and then he acknowledged that it didn’t.”
He added, “So, for me, it seems like the E.U. thing has been going well, and I guess we’ll see how it happens with China.”
His comments come just as Trump announced a tariff hike on Canadian imports, increasing the rate from 25% to 35%. The move, effective Friday, follows what the White House described as Canada’s failure to help stem the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into the U.S. Trump signed an executive order Thursday to implement the tariff hike, framing it as an effort to hold Canada accountable.
That same day, the president also issued a separate executive order to revise reciprocal tariffs for various countries, aiming to address long-standing U.S. trade deficits. According to the White House, the move supports Trump’s commitment to ensuring “fair, balanced and reciprocal trade relationships.”
Earlier this year, Trump imposed a blanket 10% tariff on all nations, with higher rates targeting countries that maintain significant trade imbalances with the U.S. The policy went into effect on April 9. Since then, the administration has negotiated several high-profile trade deals.
Among them: a landmark agreement with the European Union, in which the EU pledged to purchase $750 billion in U.S. energy and make $600 billion in new investments by 2028. As part of the deal, the EU accepted a 15% tariff on select goods. Meanwhile, Japan agreed to invest $550 billion in U.S. industries and open its markets further to American exports—also accepting the baseline 15% tariff.
Despite those developments, many prominent Democrats remain skeptical.
Senator Jack Reed, D-R.I., warned that the economic pain is still coming. “Within a few weeks or months, you’ll start seeing significant increases in most things you buy,” he said. “You’ll also see disruption in a lot of our industries because they’re not able to access product or supply.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., echoed those concerns, predicting that “across-the-board tariffs operate like a national sales tax,” and that consumers will feel the squeeze. “This is the president who said he was going to come in and reduce prices. Prices are going to rise, and they’re going to rise more over time,” Van Hollen added.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was even more direct: “Donald Trump may beat his chest and say, ‘Man, I made him take a 15% tariff or 25% tariff,’ but understand that every one of those trading partners is now looking hard all around the rest of the world to find other customers.” She warned this could send a clear message that “the United States under Donald Trump is not a reliable trading partner. And that’s not good for any of us.”
Warren also blamed Trump’s tariffs for the Federal Reserve’s hesitance to cut interest rates. She claimed, “Jerome Powell said last month that he would have lowered interest rates back in February if it hadn’t been for the chaos that Donald Trump was creating over trade. And the consequence has been that American families have, for six months now, been paying more on credit cards, more on car loans, more home mortgages, all because Donald Trump has created chaos,” she said.
On the Republican side, there’s strong support for Trump’s approach.
“I think it’s exactly the right approach. It’s what I have been urging the president to do, and I think the successes he’s winning are big wins for America,” said Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Reacting to continued Democratic pushback, Cruz said, “I’m shocked, shocked that Democrats are rooting for the economy to do badly under President Trump.” He added, “It’d be nice if some Democrats would put their partisan hatred for Trump aside and actually start working together for American workers and American jobs.”
Senator John Kennedy, R-La., also praised the deals but said the ultimate goal should be a system of reciprocal zero tariffs.
“Clearly, the president got a good deal from one perspective. The Europeans just caved, they did. Fifteen percent tariffs on them, zero on us, commitment to invest in our country,” Kennedy said. “But the part of the deal I like the most: the E.U. and the president agreed that a whole bunch of goods would be tariff-free. That is, no American tariffs and no E.U. tariffs.”
“It’s called reciprocity,” he explained. “And ideal reciprocity is zero on both sides. That’s what I would like us to achieve in all the trade deals. Let the free enterprise system work. May the best product at the best price win. That, to me, would be the perfect situation.”
