Democrats Criticize Trump's Trade Policies, Citing Job Losses and Trade Deficit

Despite President Donald Trump's promises of a manufacturing boom in his second administration, two Democratic senators are arguing in a letter to the administration — and shared first with CNBC — that the president's policies have created more hardship for U.S. workers.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., wrote on Monday to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, questioning Trump's trade policy and asking all three to explain the country's growing trade deficit on manufactured goods.

"Blue-collar jobs are disappearing, a trend that economists blame at least in part on the president's historic and volatile tariff policy," the lawmakers wrote. "The Trump Administration's trade agenda has favored the interests of wealthy corporations and Trump allies, leaving manufacturing workers behind."

Spokespeople for Greer, Bessent and Lutnick did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kelly and Warren have both been stridently opposed to Trump's tariffs, arguing, along with most congressional Democrats, that they amount to a tax on U.S. consumers.

Those tariffs, which were meant to boost U.S. manufacturing, have also led to manufacturing job reductions since Trump took office in 2025 and rejiggered the country's trade policy, according to a February analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by Democrats on the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee. That panel, on which Kelly sits, found that the U.S. economy lost 108,000 manufacturing jobs in the first year of Trump's second term.

Total construction spending on manufacturing is also down since a peak in summer 2024, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. And, Warren and Kelly wrote, Trump's tariffs have not prevented the offshoring of jobs. They cited John Paulson, a Trump ally who is shutting his Ohio brass instrument manufacturing plant and moving operations to China, and Whirlpool, which has cut nearly 500 jobs since Trump's tariffs took effect and is expanding its footprint in Mexico.

Meanwhile, as the U.S.'s overall trade deficit with the world narrowed in 2025, the trade deficit in physical goods hit a record high, according to data released by the Census Bureau in February.

"President Trump's disastrous trade and economic policies have hurt American manufacturing, breaking the President's promises to workers and the public," Warren and Kelly wrote.

The Supreme Court in February struck down a majority of Trump's tariffs — which he imposed citing a 1977 federal law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act — though the president responded by issuing a new set of import taxes using a different statutory authority. And he's continued to threaten and sporadically impose tariffs where he perceives trade imbalances.

In their letter, Warren and Kelly asked Greer, Bessent and Lutnick for an explanation as to why the deficit on manufactured goods has increased under Trump and how they plan to reverse the damage they say tariffs have done to the industry.

"After campaigning on promises to lower costs for American families 'on day one,' President Trump's disastrous economic policies, including sweeping IEEPA tariffs, have driven up prices for American families and small businesses," they wrote.