President Donald Trump's plan to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports will be a "disaster," Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said Thursday.

In an interview on Fox News' "Special Report," Sasse called the president's response to what he called decades of unfair trade policies "leftist economic policy."

"We tried it a bunch of times over the last two centuries," he said. "Every time, American families have suffered. It is bad policy . . . His regulatory reform agenda has been great. This trade policy will be disastrous."

Sasse said "trade is great for America" and "for American families," but "no trade war has ever worked."

"We don't want to make America 1930 again," he said. "The forgotten men and women of America don't want to be drafted into a trade war. It doesn't work. Trade creates jobs. Trade lowers prices for American families. Trade wars do the opposite."

"If you own a steel mill, today was great for you," he added. "If you consume steel, and every American family at the store bought something that has metals in it, today is a bad day for you."

According to Sasse, when trade war gets worse, "there's going to be retaliatory tariffs against the farmers and ranchers America and the producers and the workers of America. We're going to lose as consumers and producers."