Ed Schultz with Russia Today (RT), formerly of MSNBC, told an audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that Donald Trump promised the American heartland a deal.

“It’s not a level playing field,” Schultz told the audience during a panel discussion entitled, “Free Trade, Fair Trade or Phony Trade.”

Shultz blasted the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), asserting that the trade deal was set to “gut the American worker in the heartland.”

“Trump went into Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin and he took down the progressive firewall, because he talked to the American people about a deal,” Schultz said. “It was a Wall Street deal, it was not a main street deal,” he said, referring to the TPP.

Schultz, who hosted a show on MSNBC from 2009 to 2015, regularly struck a populist tone on his program. “I did over 107 stories before anyone else [on TPP],” the current RT host explained Thursday.

“I went into these towns, and I saw the anguish and the hurt,” he exclaimed. “For years, the American heartland thought that Democrats and the progressive movement were their best friend, but guess what? The jobs left anyways. Donald Trump came in and promised them a deal.”

The fiery cable news host and radio talk show personality also gave his take on the 2016 election and how Trump won on the ground. “He [Trump] would do five events a day, she [Clinton] would do two. He would do six events and she would do three,” Schultz said, asserting that, “He outworked her.”

“Bilateral trade agreements is the best,” he argued, lambasting multilateral trade agreements as having too many countries involved.

He also gave his take on China, Canada and NAFTA. “The United States of America is the largest customer on the face of the earth. China needs America,” he argued.

In regards to Canada, Trump said that, “If Trump can get Trudeau to reduce regulations on the environment and on border crossings.”

“I do not believe that NAFTA saved the automobile industry,” he said, asserting that the U.S. treasury saved the industry. The brash TV personality also brought up Brexit and shared his take on the decision of British voters to leave the European Union.

The Brexit vote was in the works for thirty years, the former MSNBC host explained. “Like Trump’s election, it was a rural and urban vote.” Schultz did not mince words, and doubled down on the idea that bilateral trade deals, not multilateral trade deals, are the answer.

After the panel discussion, Schultz declined to comment, saying that he couldn’t speak to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Search for some of the stuff you guys have written about me,” he quipped. (RELATED: Ed Schulz Charges At Reporter Like A Hippo On PCP)

CPAC officially started Thursday morning and runs through the weekend. Trump is scheduled to speak to the group Friday morning at 10:00 a.m, Eastern time.

Follow Ted on Twitter

Send Tips to ted@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.