House Speaker Nancy Pelosi believes President Donald Trump had to challenge China's trade practices — she's just not sold that he took the right steps to hold Beijing accountable.

"I think the president had to do something about it, I'm just not sure he went the right way," the California Democrat told CNBC's Jim Cramer in an interview Tuesday. "I think we should have done it multilaterally, with the EU and the rest."

As Trump pushes China to change what he and some lawmakers from both parties call abusive trade practices, he has slapped tariffs on more than $500 billion in Chinese goods. The moves prompted various retaliatory duties from Beijing, locking the world's two largest economies in a trade war that threatens to drag on global economic growth.

The agriculture industry and businesses from other sectors have warned about damage from the widening trade war. On Tuesday, Pelosi said Trump should not have tried to address China's practices in a way that could open Americans up to financial pain.

"And what I would say is, whatever path he wanted to take to improve a trade relationship, do not empower the other side to hurt your farmers and your consumers," she told the "Mad Money" host.