Once a Trump Foil, Warren Seeks Collaboration on Policy

For the last decade, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has been a favorite foil of President Trump, who has subjected her to persistent name-calling and taunting as he tried to make the progressive Democrat the face of the “radical left.”

But with Mr. Trump back in the White House and Democrats reeling from the rejection of the Biden administration’s economic agenda, Ms. Warren is forging a new strategy for the second Trump era. She is looking for areas of potential collaboration with a Republican president who has succeeded in taking the mantle of economic populism from Democrats.

“I have to say I’m looking forward to this,” Ms. Warren said in an interview in her office this month before Mr. Trump’s inauguration. “Trump has said enough about the things he wants to do for working people, that if he can push his Republicans to follow through on that, and we will push our Democrats, we can actually make some changes that will help a lot of families.”

Despite that conciliatory tone, Ms. Warren demonstrated during Mr. Trump’s first weeks in office that she is not fully embracing his administration.

This week, Ms. Warren sent a letter to Howard Lutnick, Mr. Trump’s pick to be commerce secretary, scrutinizing him over his ties to a cryptocurrency firm with a record of illicit activity. She also pressed Mr. Trump’s Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, on whether he avoided paying taxes while running his hedge fund.

After Mr. Trump’s budget office issued a temporary freeze on federal funding, Ms. Warren said, “We do not consent to this lawless power grab.”

Still, Ms. Warren remains optimistic that she can find common ground with Mr. Trump despite their history of hostility.

As Mr. Trump rose to political prominence in 2016, Ms. Warren emerged as one of his most vocal critics. At one point she rebuked him as “a small, insecure money-grubber” and suggested that he was “drooling” over the idea of a housing meltdown so he could buy property.

Mr. Trump, in turn, gave Ms. Warren the derisive nickname “Pocahontas.” The moniker alluded to a 2012 controversy when Ms. Warren, a former Harvard Law School professor, came under fire after it emerged that during her academic career she identified herself as a minority, citing Native American roots.

But with Republicans embracing protectionism, luring union support and pitching policies at working-class voters, Democrats are under pressure to recalibrate their economic policymaking to appeal more broadly.

Ms. Warren said she was particularly interested in Mr. Trump’s pledge to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent, his aspirations to make housing more affordable and his goal of reviving domestic manufacturing and supply chains. She has also said she would like to work with Mr. Trump on legislation to abolish the debt limit.

In the Trump era, Ms. Warren said, the key will be not to get distracted.

“I think of this as an issue of focus,” she said. “It’s not being in 1,000 places at once, right? It’s being absolutely clear about what kinds of choices are being made and who’s going to benefit and who’s going to pay the price.”

Ms. Warren ran unsuccessfully for president in 2020 and has long been one of the most powerful progressive voices in the Democratic Party, helping to devise the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and popularizing the idea of wealth taxes.

This year, Ms. Warren will wield influence as the top Democrat on the Banking Committee, where she plans to exert oversight of Mr. Trump’s deregulation agenda, and as a member of the Finance Committee, which will be at the center of the congressional debate over tax legislation.

During Mr. Trump’s first term, there was little legislative cooperation between Democrats and Republicans, who forged ahead with a partisan bill to cut taxes primarily for corporations and the wealthy.

Mr. Trump wants to extend those tax cuts this year, but he also offered several campaign proposals aimed at working-class voters. Those included eliminating taxes on tips, Social Security benefits and overtime pay.

Ms. Warren said she would be open to some of Mr. Trump’s tax proposals if they were not tied to a broader tax package that benefited companies and the rich — an unlikely outcome.

Despite Ms. Warren’s willingness to work with Mr. Trump, she is also daring him to deliver.

“Part of it is probably setting out the challenge so that if he doesn’t follow through, you can then say, ‘Look, this is all a ruse,’” said Bharat Ramamurti, a former policy adviser to Ms. Warren.

In the interview, Ms. Warren said she remained ready to call Mr. Trump out if he backed away from the populist ideas that got him elected.

Pointing to the prospect of tariff exemptions and the erosion consumer protections, she said: “If this is just one more big fireworks display, forgotten 10 minutes after it’s over and it’s business as usual for the guys who are insiders and want favors, then they’re going to have a fight on their hands.”