ABC This Week interviews during 2020: on Free Trade

Kirsten Gillibrand: NAFTA 2.0 is a disaster; trade war harms producers

GILLIBRAND: I'm concerned because I think NAFTA 2.0 is a disaster. I think it was a giveaway to drug companies in Mexico. It's going to harm our jobs. President Trump said no bad trade deals. Not only has he entered into them, but he's started a trade war with China. And it's really harming producers.

Jeff Flake: Don't treat trade with Canada as national security threat

FLAKE: All I can tell you Republicans need to stand up on issues like tariffs facing us right now. We're if the nascent stages of a full-scale trade war. And the president simply seems to want to escalate. And it all stems to the steel and aluminum tariffs. Congress ought to stand up and say, "no, we're not going to do that." You can't use section 232 to claim that Canada is a national security threat. That's not who we are. [Sec. 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 makes exceptions for national security]

Q: But congress hasn't stood up on tariffs, and the President is disregarding Republican orthodoxy.

FLAKE: On something like tariffs, the Senate ought to bring legislation that says, "hey, you're misusing 232; Canada, Mexico, are not national security threats. The European Union exporting cars does not represent the national security threat," and we ought to push back. And if we don't, why are we there?

Lindsey Graham: Protect the American steel industry from Chinese dumping

GRAHAM: We're trying to get China to act better and if you get into a contest with China, you're going to have to see this thing through. The Chinese buy a lot of American soybeans and pork, they've got 1.2 billion people to feed. I'd tell these people to go to the Rust Belt and see what's happened in that part of America due to Chinese unfair trade practices. I support President Trump pushing back against commodity dumping, intellectual property theft, currency manipulation, and we've got to see this thing through. We're trying to protect the American steel industry from Chinese dumping, we're trying to protect the American high tech community from Chinese intellectual property theft. And one of the ways they can fight back is to hit us in the agricultural sector. So there is no way for us to address China without absorbing some pain here.