President Donald Trump should be given some leeway in his effort to rebalance America's trade relationships, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told CNBC on Friday.
If Trump was able to get North Korea to the negotiating table in spite of the criticism he faced late last year for his "fire and fury" comments to Kim Jong Un, the president may be able to get a similar result on trade, McCarthy said. Trump and Kim are set to meet Tuesday in Singapore to talk about denuclearizing the rogue nation.
However, before the Kim summit, Trump is scheduled Friday to attend the annual G-7 summit in Quebec, meeting with leaders from the U.K., Canada, Japan, Italy, Germany and France at a time when the U.S. is imposing trade tariffs against some of its allies and raising concerns about trade wars.
In a "Squawk Box" interview, McCarthy said, "I don't think anyone wins a trade war, but I do think it's healthy to have a trade discussion."
"Let's get [Trump] a little leeway to have a discussion," the California Republican added. "Always a part of negotiations, sometimes you make an argument about one point so you can be stronger."
As he was preparing to leave for Quebec on Friday morning, Trump told reporters that Canada has been treating the U.S. unfairly on trade, and he reiterated his frequent threat that he would rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement if negotiators from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico are unable to overhaul the 1994 deal.
On Thursday evening, Trump sparred on Twitter with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron over trade, accusing the U.S. allies of levying "massive tariffs" and creating "non-monetary barriers."
Tensions between the U.S. and many of its allies were already high after Trump decided last week to impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union. The three U.S. allies quickly announced retaliatory measures.
Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp told CNBC on Friday that Trump shouldn't be able to impose the tariffs without some sort of congressional approval.
Retiring GOP Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, unveiled legislation Wednesday, co-sponsored by five other Republicans and four Democrats, to check Trump's ability to impose tariffs. Corker moved forward despite personal objections from the president.
"Let's sit down about how we should structure these impositions, especially when they're being imposed against our allies," Heitkamp said Friday on "Squawk Box." The North Dakota senator is one of the Democratic co-sponsors of the Corker bill.