Republicans will be in a strong position to improve its share of the black vote in 2016 if Donald Trump becomes the GOP nominee for president, U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., argued.

Alabama's junior senator, who has not made an endorsement in the race, suggested to Buzzfeed that Trump's populist position on trade issues could pull blacks into the former reality show host's corner against either former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sessions is one of the Senate's most vocal opponents of a trade agreement between the United States and 12 Pacific Rim countries known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP.

"I think he's going to be talking about issues that could appeal to African Americans -- like trade," Sessions said in an article that appeared Monday. "So I think there could be support for him there."

But while Trump is against the TPP, so too are Sanders and Clinton (although the former secretary of state used to be for the trade pact.) And like Trump, Sanders has talked about how he views the free trade agreement harming American workers and threatening their jobs.

The senator is not alone in believing Trump could fare better among black voters than previous Republicans should he become the nominee.

"If he were the Republican nominee he would get the highest percentage of black votes since Ronald Reagan in 1980," when Reagan received 14 percent of the black vote, Republican pollster Frank Luntz told Politico. "They listen to him. They find him fascinating, and in all the groups I have done, I have found Obama voters, they could've voted for Obama twice, but if they're African-American they would consider Trump."

While Sessions hasn't made an endorsement in the race - and it's unclear if he will - with nearly two weeks until the March 1 Alabama primary, he has a few connections to Trump. Sessions appeared and spoke briefly at The Donald's campaign rally in Mobile over the summer and has counseled the first-time presidential candidate on immigration policy. Sessions's former communications director, Stephen Miller, now works as a senior adviser for the Trump campaign.