WATCH: Dem Senator Admits Trump Is ‘Winning’ Trade Negotiations

A freshman Democratic Party senator candidly admitted that President Donald Trump is “handily” winning trade negotiations with a number of the nation’s largest trading partners.

“I’m wondering if you think right now Trump is winning the trade war. Do you agree with those who think he is?” Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) was asked by a Fox News reporter on Capitol Hill Friday. “I mean, absolutely,” Fetterman responded without hesitation, pointing to the president’s recent trade agreement with the European Union.

And again, I’m a huge fan of Bill Maher.And I mean, I think he’s really one of the oracles for my party. And he acknowledged it.It’s like, hey, he thought that the terrorists were going to tank the economy and he acknowledged that it did so,” the senator added. Fetterman then reiterated that he is pleased with the new trade deal with the European Union and expressed optimism that the final deal with China will be acceptable as well.

Fetterman’s statement comes as President Trump made the decision Friday to raise tariffs on a number of trading partners, including Canada, as part of his Liberation Day tariff strategy announced back in April. Trump had laid out a number of reciprocal tariffs that would be applied to dozens of trade partners based on existing trade deficits, though the duties were ultimately paused for two months in order to allow time for negotiations.

This was done with the exception of China, which ultimately came to the table after two weeks of tariff rates north of 100 percent applied on most exports bounds for the United States. The two sides agreed to suspend their astronomically high tariff rates for the short term while negotiations on a final deal are ongoing.

In the time period between the initial tariff pause back in April and Trump’s August 1 deadline, a number of the nation’s largest trading partners, including the European Union, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Japan, negotiated new economic agreements with the United States.

South Korea, Japan and the EU all agreed to drop all existing trade barriers and tariffs against the United States while also agreeing to pay 15 percent tariffs on most exports to the U.S. The agreements included automobiles, a major sticking point for the administration, though exceptions were made on a number of goods, including some electronics, chemicals, airplane parts and more.

All three agreements also included trillions of dollars in new investments to the United States, mainly in the military, transportation and energy sectors. In doing so, Trump has secured a large market for American energy exports as part of his “drill baby, drill” agenda.

While most major trading partners have been able to negotiate tariff rates down, all trading partners will be subjected to a 10 percent minimum baseline tariff on most exports. This has already created hundreds of billions of dollars in additional revenue, including a record $28 billion in July.