Politics
NEW: Major Auto Workers Union Backs Trump’s Tariffs
The United Auto Workers Union — which boasts more than 400,000 members spread mostly across the auto industry — has endorsed President Trump’s tariffs on Mexican, Canadian and Chinese products entering the United States. The group’s support for the president’s ambitious plan highlights the Trump Administration’s growing appeal to labor unions, as UAW leadership enthusiastically supported former President Biden and later endorsed former Vice President Harris.
In an official statement, the UAW highlighted the devastating effects that “free trade” has had for their industry. “Corporations have been driving a non-stop race to the bottom by killing good blue-collar jobs in America to go exploit some poor worker in another country by paying poverty wages. Tariffs are a powerful tool in the toolbox for undoing the injustice of anti-worker trade deals,” the union wrote in an official statement.
UAW then spoke to criticism of the president’s tariff strategy and fears that it will lead to increased prices for consumers. “There’s been a lot of talk of these tariffs ‘disrupting’ the economy. But if corporate America chooses to price-gouge the American consumer or attack the American worker because they don’t want to pay their fair share, corporate America bears the blame for that decision,” the statement continued.
“The working class suffered all the pain of NAFTA, and we won’t suffer all the pain of undoing NAFTA. We want to see corporate America, from the auto industry and beyond, recommit to the working class that makes the products and generates the profits that keep this country running.”
The union went on to state that they are in active talks with the Trump Administration over the tariff strategy, as well future plans to negotiate favorable trade agreements and deals that will return jobs to the United States. “We look forward to working with the White House to shape the auto tariffs in April to benefit the working class. We want to see serious action that will incentivize companies to change their behavior, reinvest in America, and stop cheating the American worker, the American consumer, and the American taxpayer.”
The statement is notable considering the UAW’s longtime support of the Democratic Party, especially former President Biden. UAW President Shawn Fain invited then-President Biden to walk a picket line with striking auto workers in 2023 and later spoke at the Democratic National Convention last year, where he based President Trump as an anti-union candidate.
Just a month earlier, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien became the first Teamsters president to speak at the Republican National Convention in the union’s history. The union later broke with decades of precedent in refusing to endorse Vice President Harris in the November election.
In a move that has largely been seen as a thank you to the Teamsters and an olive branch to labor unions, President Trump nominated former Republican congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer to head up the Department of Labor. While a number of Republicans have expressed concern over the pick due to Chavez-DeRemer’s past opposition to right-to-work laws, she has also garnered support from a number of Senate Democrats.
A final confirmation vote on Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination is expected to take place next week.
