Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), a 2020 presidential candidate, on Sunday dismissed a White House adviser’s optimistic economic outlook, saying people she has met on the campaign trail “don’t share his view.”
Gillibrand was asked on ABC’s “This Week” whether she agreed with the “rosy economic outlook” of White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who appeared on the program before her.
{mosads}”I don’t think his world view is reflected in the everyday, kitchen-table issues that families are facing,” she said, adding that she recently met with voters in Ohio who had lost their jobs.
“They’re worried about their jobs, they’re worried about access to health care,” she said. “They’re worried about providing for their kids.”
ABC’s Martha Raddatz asked Gillibrand if she was worried about a recession, a possibility that Navarro played down but that has shaken stock markets over the past week.
“I’m concerned because I think NAFTA 2.0 is a disaster,” Gillibrand said, citing the trade deal, formally called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which Navarro said would need to be passed as part of his optimism.
“I think it was a giveaway to drug companies in Mexico. It’s going to harm our jobs,” she said. “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.”