Former President Donald Trump took tremendous heat from Democrats for placing tariffs on China. 

However, according to Breitbart, not all Democrats believe hammering the communist nation with tariffs is a bad idea, including Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman (CA).

In a recent interview on C-SPAN’s "Washington Journal," Sherman emphasized that the United States made a "big mistake" when it granted China "most favored nation trade status," adding that he believes the country should face U.S. tariffs to even the playing field.

The admission comes as President Joe Biden has been criticized, mostly by Republicans, over his weakness in dealing with China.

Even stricter?

Sherman probably dropped jaws within his party, admitting that he believes Trump's tariffs weren't strong enough, adding that he believes Biden should impose "tariffs on Chinese goods across the board."

The “big mistake” on China was granting them most-favored nation trade status. This led to a horribly lopsided trade relationship. "Tariffs on Chinese goods across the board" must be imposed and be stricter than the tariffs imposed by Trump.
- Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA)

— The Patriot Hammer (@patriot_hammer) June 25, 2023

"As to China, the big mistake we made was in the year 2000, when we granted most-favored nation status to China. Our economic theories at the time told us that you can’t have free and unmanaged trade with another country that manages its trade and manages its economy, and that if you do, you may have a spectacularly large trade deficit, and now we do.

Sherman added: "So, we need to change our trade relationship with China. It is the most lopsided trade relationship in the history of…life, and the way to do that is tariffs on Chinese goods across the board. And while Trump talked about doing that, we did very little."

In a Forbes piece from February, Sherman was quoted as saying that there should be "an automatic 25% tariff on all China goods."

The outlet noted:

China hands out access to its markets like I hand out dog treats to my pets. I represent Hollywood. Let me give you an example of my constituent's issues with China. Hollywood is told they can only get 40 movies into China each year. That means if you make a movie critical of China, that doesn't go to China. But it also means that none of your movies are going to China."

Probably won't happen

At least at this point, it doesn't seem likely that the Biden administration will enact strict or even new tariffs on China.

According to Reuters, last month it was reported that the United States is taking an "analytical approach" in determining whether or not to add new tariffs.

"We are conducting the review from an analytical perspective. We’re not base-casing any breakthrough in the trade relationship" Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi said, emphasizing that new tariffs won't come about due to a "breakthrough" in U.S.-China relations.

Many have said Biden is one of the weakest presidents on the Chinese trade issue, and China in general.