President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE's top economic adviser Larry Kudlow Larry KudlowMORE has brushed off past criticism he voiced about Trump's trade policies, calling the newly unearthed comments "hypothetical."

"That was then and this is now," Kudlow told CNN in an interview published Thursday. "I think his trade policies with China in particular have been very strong. They are not damaging the U.S. economy."

"Those were worst case scenarios, it was all hypothetical," he added when asked by the network about his past criticism. "We don't know what's going happen with Mexico."

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CNN on Thursday unearthed comments that Kudlow, a former conservative commentator, made on his radio program in 2015, when Trump was a presidential candidate. Kudlow said then that Trump’s suggested tariffs — which he’s now trying to impose on Mexico and China — did not make for good policy and would cause "incalculable damage" to the economy.

Also that year, Kudlow said Trump’s higher tax rates and tariffs would “destroy the dollar.”

"You slap a 25 percent, 35 percent tariff on our leading trading partners like Mexico and China. We may not like them, sir, but tariffs and protectionism is not the answer," Kudlow said on "The Larry Kudlow Show," according to CNN. "We don't need this. This will backfire on America and the rest of the world."

The newly unearthed comments come as the Trump administration has pushed Mexico to stem the flow of migrants traveling to the U.S., with Trump last week threatening to impose a 5 percent tariff on all goods from the country. The Trump administration has also upped tariffs on Chinese imports to 25 percent.

During his radio program in 2015, shortly after Trump launched his campaign, CNN noted that Kudlow also weighed in on other topics, saying he didn’t think Mexico was to blame for undocumented immigration.

"This anti-immigration thing has gone way too far," Kudlow said at the time. "For example, Donald Trump is blaming the government of Mexico several times for sending us these terrible people. First of all, the government of Mexico has nothing to do with sending us anybody."

He added: "How's this guy going to negotiate with anybody, whether it's China, whether it's Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich PutinNavalny released from hospital after suspected poisoning Ex-Trump national security adviser says US leaders 'making it easy for Putin' to meddle The Hill's Campaign Report: GOP set to ask SCOTUS to limit mail-in voting MORE, whether it's the mullahs. He can't even get the story right on Mexico. He can't even distinguish between the good and bads on Mexico."