President Trump’s tariffs are putting Democrats in a challenging political position as they decide how strongly to denounce his trade policy.

Democrats have pounced on Trump’s tariffs in recent weeks as only boosting prices for consumers and causing international chaos, but much of the labor movement, a key part of the party’s coalition, supports tariffs to some extent to protect their industries from foreign competition.

Reflecting this reality, some Democrats in key battleground states — including, most recently, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) — have treaded more carefully on the issue, underscoring the divisions in the party.

One of those divisions appeared to come to light on Thursday when Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) criticized Whitmer’s comments from a speech she made in Washington earlier that week. In her remarks, Whitmer said she understood “the motivation behind the tariffs” and that she is “not against tariffs outright,” but warned against Trump’s strategy.

“You can’t just bust out the tariff hammer to swing at every problem without a clearly defined end-goal,” she said.

Whitmer expressed concern for the state's automobile industry in an interview with journalist Gretchen Carlson shortly after her remarks, arguing the tariffs are not good for auto workers in Michigan.

"I would argue that all of this uncertainty is going to cost everyone of us but especially autoworkers," she said. "I think we're already seeing the immediate impact. The longer term, it could be a lot worse."

Polis shot back in a post on X, writing that “the ‘tariff hammer’ winds up hitting your own hand rather than the nail.”

“Tariffs are bad outright because they lead to higher prices and destroy American manufacturing,” he said.

Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), who represents a Pittsburgh area district along the country's Rust Belt, also received some backlash last month for arguing that Democrats need to rethink their “anti-tariff absolutism.” He noted that he’s a Democrat from the Rust........

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