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The looming threat that President Trump will launch a trade war, by slapping a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum imports, would impact a Washington economy that is fueled by exports to foreign markets.

If Trump follows his sabre rattling with action -- he was Tweeting about tariffs and retaliation on Monday -- "it would throw our economy into the middle of that," Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Monday.

"We in the state are a trade economy," said Cantwell. "Every sector, be it agriculture or software or manufacturing, is dependent on trade. More than 50 percent of what we make is exported outside the United States."

The Trump threats represent a 180-degree turn from the free trade policies championed by Republicans in recent years. The votes of GOP lawmakers were key to Congress passing the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994.

But Trump has denounced NAFTA and repeatedly threatened to pull the United States out of the free trade agreement.

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