Washington senator on tariff fallout

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) joined Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan for Sunday's show.

Senator Cantwell highlighted growing concerns about the impact of tariffs, noting that seven Republicans have already signed onto a bill in response to anxiety from consumers and industries, including retailers and consumer groups.

"So usually you don't get a first introduction and get so many people on board, but I think it shows the anxiety that people have. I'm sure if they listen to their constituents, consumer challenges are already starting to surface, and certainly the stock market's impact on retirement income is shaking a lot of people. So I'm sure my colleagues will hear from them. Today, consumer groups are announcing, and retailers, the fact that they want Congress to take this action up. And so I think we're hearing from a big segment of the economy, the consumer spending is a big part of GDP, and they're worried."

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA)

She warned of the harm tariffs are causing, particularly to farmers and family-owned businesses, and emphasized the need for the U.S. to focus on building trade alliances rather than engaging in a trade war that could further damage key markets, especially for agricultural exports.

"We have seen damage from the first Trump tariffs on things like apples and markets closed, and what you do is you end up then losing farm family economies. You don't necessarily lose farmland, some big corporation might buy it, but you lose family farms. So our objective should be to help farmers open up doors to these overseas markets. The United States' goal here should be to make great manufactured products and grow great agricultural products and then get those markets opened up. But what the president is doing is, instead of building those alliances, he basically is getting into a trade war that is having unbelievable impact. When his last tariffs on India, we reopened with the apple market, and we went to India and said, let's get rid of this. And we were successful. And that's the kind of action we would have...we want to see today."

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA)

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