Foreign Affairs Committee chairman on Trump tariffs and foreign aid

(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Representative Brian Mast (R-FL) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico.

Brennan said there's a free trade agreement, which President Donald Trump negotiated during his first term, between Mexico and Canada, but she also said that the tariffs "may violate the deal," prompting her to ask if Mast can explain "the threat posed by Canada" if the president's "invoking tariffs on a national security basis," and Mast said:

"President Trump...was very specific in his executive order outline, that it's specifically related to fentanyl, it's specifically related to human trafficking. And there's a trust but verify situation that has to...goes on...go on here...through Canada as well...Fentanyl through Canada, human trafficking through Canada, also with China in that mix for fentanyl as well. That was specifically outlined in it. And until that comes to an end, this is what's going to be on the table. And bear in mind as well that USMCA reauthorization is coming up in months and years."

During the interview, Brennan and Mast talked about foreign aid, with the former asking the latter if he was informed by the Trump administration of "plans to dismantle or significantly shrink" the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which Brennan said was separate from the State Department.

"This is something that I'm working on very specifically, in conjunction with Secretary [Marco] Rubio, to make sure that there's the appropriate command and control of these agencies, where again, to make that same point, right now, maybe 10 to 30 cents...on the dollar is what actually goes to aid. So there's not the right amount of command and control that's going on with the way that it's set up currently," Mast answered. "Most of these dollars that go out of USAID, 70+%, don't come from U.S. growers, U.S. farmers, U.S. ranchers, or go through U.S. ports, and that's another big problem for America."

When asked if he endorses getting rid of the USAID as a separate department, with Brennan saying that the department "already reports to the Secretary of State," Mast said:

"I would be absolutely for, if that's the path we go down, removing USAID as a separate department, and having it fall under whether the other parts of the United States, Department of State, because of its failure, I just went over the numbers twice with you, in the amount of aid that actually makes it into the hands. I mean, you could almost say, this a little bit hyperbole, but there's probably more dollars that go towards state dinners around the DC beltway than what actually goes into rice and beans abroad. That's the state of what's going on with USAID."

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Mast, click here.