Elizabeth Warren stood out from her Democratic rivals on Thursday night by embracing the Trump administration’s policy of erecting trade barriers to accomplish U.S. policy goals.
“You asked a question about leverage,” Senator Warren said, referring to a question that had been directed to other candidates about how they would negotiate trade deals without resorting to tariffs. “Are you kidding? Everybody wants access to the American market. That means we have the capacity to say, right here in America, ‘You wanna come sell goods to the American consumer, then you gotta raise your standards.’
Warren also said she would conduct trade negotiations with a broader set of constituencies representated at the negotiating table. Instead of allowing trade talks to be dominated by governmental and corporate interests, she would include labor, environmental, and human rights advocates.
“We can use trade not to undermine American workers, and not to undermine farms, and not to undermine small business in this country,” Warren said. “We can use trade to help build a stronger economy.”