Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized significant aspects of Donald Trump’s agenda, focusing on the ‘uncertain’ backing for Ukraine and tariffs he argued would increase inflation.

Pence took aim at the Trump platform during a CNN interview, just a day after he received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award at the JFK Library Foundation in Boston for rejecting Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.

While he has long criticized Trump’s actions that day, his latest criticisms touch on the economy and Trump’s expansionist foreign policy statements.

Pence told the network’s Kaitlan Collins: ‘The president’s call for broad-based tariffs against friend and foe alike.

‘In the end, the current administration is promoting policies that are not specifically aimed at nations exploiting our trade relationship but are instead akin to a new industrial policy that will lead to inflation, negatively affecting consumers and ultimately damaging the American economy.’

Tariffs have become central to Trump’s second term economic agenda, and Trump and his team have stood by them even as the president paused ‘reciprocal’ tariffs that sent markets tanking last month.

Pence also took the opportunity to ding Trump when asked about the president’s comment last week that ‘maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls would cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.’

That line seemed to concede that tariffs would cause inflation that would hit American households.

‘I have two grown daughters. I have three small granddaughters. And look, keeping dolls affordable, keeping our kids’ toys affordable, that really is part of the American dream,’ said Pence.

Nor did he shy away from criticizing Trump’s stunning statements about the U.S. needing to acquire Greenland, which has been affiliated with Denmark for hundreds of years. 

‘I think Greenland is enormously important to us and our national security. But the fact that we already have two military bases there, and the ability to negotiate further, is more than enough for us to satisfy that need,’ was Pence’s response.

Pence, whose became the first high-profile Republican to end his 2024 presidential campaign in October 2023, was vague on his political future. He has urged the GOP to hew to conservative policies on social issues like abortion.

‘Whatever the future holds for me, I’m going to try and be a consistent voice for those conservative values that I think are not only the right policy for the Republican Party,’ he said.

He repeated earlier claims that he was ‘deeply disappointed to see President Trump pardon people that engaged in violence against law enforcement officers’ on January 6 – a day his security detail tried to rush him from the Capitol and he remained in a basement, allowing Congress to reconvene to certify Joe Biden’s victory. 

‘The President has every right under the Constitution to grant pardons, but in that moment, I thought it sent the wrong message.’

He also did something Trump often refuses to do: criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine. Trump has been urging Russia and Ukraine to make peace, while his administration signals that Russia will be permitted to keep seized territory.

‘If the last three years teaches us anything, it’s that Vladimir Putin doesn’t want peace. He wants Ukraine,’ said Pence.

‘And the fact that we are now nearly two months following a ceasefire agreement that Ukraine has agreed to, and Russia continues to delay and give excuses — it confirms that point.’

Trump famously berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, and what Pence called ‘wavering support’ has ‘only emboldened Russia.’ 

At a time when Trump has characterized the war as more of a problem for Europe, Pence said: ‘I really do believe that if Vladimir Putin overruns Ukraine, it’s just a matter of time before he crosses a border where our men and women in uniform are going to have to go fight him.’