Mike Pence criticizes Trump on tariffs and key foreign policy issues as he watches from afar
Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized President Donald Trump’s approach to tariffs, as well as several foreign policy initiatives, in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” airing Sunday.
“The initial reciprocal tariffs that he unveiled would be the largest peacetime tax hike on the American people in the history of this country,” Pence told moderator Kristen Welker, referring to the sweeping tariffs Trump imposed on the United States’ largest trading partners in early April.
Days later, the president paused most of the tariffs, a move that Pence on Friday said he was “glad” to see.
The interview covered a wide range of topics — and Pence opened with broad praise for the second Trump administration, applauding the president for having “secured the southern border in a historic way” and ordering military action against the Houthis in Yemen, among other things.
“But in the midst of all of that, I have seen some departure from the policies of our administration both at home and abroad,” Pence noted. He mentioned “wavering support” for Ukraine in the first 100 days of Trump’s second term and criticized one potential vision for a nuclear deal with Iran. And he was especially critical of Trump’s tariffs.
The former vice president said his primary concern with Trump’s current plan, which is to negotiate trade deals that could still include tariffs on most nations, is that it will lead to higher prices for Americans.
He added that the president’s current plan is “very different” from how Trump’s first administration, in which Pence served as vice president, operated.
“We very much used the threat of tariffs as leverage for negotiations, Kristen,” Pence said, adding later: “What I see in this administration is a steady drive toward a baseline of maybe even 10% tariffs that I think would be harmful to jobs in America. It would be harmful to consumers in America.”
Pence also criticized Trump’s frequent line about who pays tariffs when they are imposed.
“As the president has said to me many times, he has a sense that other countries pay tariffs,” Pence said, “when the reality is, when Americans buy goods overseas, the company that imports those goods in this country pays the tariff and more often than not passes that along in higher prices to consumers.”
Views of Vance and the role of the vice president
Asked whether he objected to the tariffs on certain consumer goods that Trump imposed during his first term, Pence admitted that he probably had, but privately.
“I probably did in the hallways, but the president gets to make the decision,” Pence said.
“When you’re vice president of the United States, my view is always this: I’d favor the president, with the full range of my opinion in private,” Pence said. “And then when he made the decision, my job was to support his decision absent some higher calling or higher obligation that one has.”
Earlier in the interview, Pence also spoke about the counsel he hopes Trump is receiving from those around him now, including Vice President JD Vance.
“President Trump was not just my president. He was my friend,” Pence said, describing his relationship with Trump during his first term, which frayed after Pence resisted Trump’s pressure to use his role to try to overturn the 2020 election results when Congress met to count the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021.
“I took the opportunity in the right settings, private moments, to share with him those times when we differed on issues,” Pence said. “And my hope is, whether it’s the vice president or others, that there are those voices around the president that do the same.”
The former vice president demurred when asked how he thinks the current vice president is doing in his job, with Pence simply saying he “would have a hard time assessing that precisely, but [Vance is] an honorable man.”
Foreign policy
Pence also spoke about Trump’s approach to foreign policy in this term. He told Welker it’s “a bad idea” for the president to accept a plane as a gift from the Qatari royal family, amid reports that Trump plans to do so, and was critical of Trump’s speech in Saudi Arabia.
The former vice president also questioned the Trump administration’s approach to Iran, as top U.S. officials seek to reach a deal with Iran over the nation’s possession of uranium and nuclear technology.
Pence said he is worried about reports that Iran is seeking to maintain a civilian nuclear program, telling Welker the U.S. “should make it clear in negotiations with Iran that their current nuclear program must be either dismantled or destroyed.”
“I am grateful that President Trump has reiterated the policy of our administration, that Iran will not be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon. The security of America, the security of Israel, the stability of the region and the world demands that we enforce that. But from my standpoint, when I hear talk about allowing Iran to have an enrichment program at a certain level, it sounds for all the world like President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal that we got out of in the first year of our administration.”
“We need to make it clear to them that America is not bluffing, that we will not allow them to continue to enrich uranium,” Pence added.
Asked whether an attack against Iran should be on the table as an option to push it to dismantle its nuclear program, Pence said, “Of course. I think all options should be on the table.”
Pence also said he thinks additional sanctions against Russia should be on the table as Trump seeks the end of the country’s war in Ukraine, though the administration has said such threats would damage the talks it has set up.
“I’ve met Vladimir Putin. My judgment is Vladimir Putin only understands strength,” Pence said.
Jan. 6 pardons
Pence said “I don’t see that in my future” when asked if he might run for president again, having sought the White House in 2023 without gaining much traction before he dropped out of the race. His break with Trump over the 2020 election results, which Trump repeatedly and falsely claimed were marred by fraud, also damaged his political standing in the Republican Party.
Pence said Trump was wrong to issue a blanket pardon of people who faced charges for participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“I will always believe by God’s grace I did my duty that day to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and see to the peaceful transfer of power,” Pence said, later drawing a distinction between some Jan. 6 defendants who “just walked through an open door, meant no harm, did no harm,” and those charged with more serious crimes.
“But individuals who broke into the Capitol, who assaulted police officers, I said that day and I believe to this moment should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Pence said.