On Thursday, the head of the US auto workers union supported automobile tariffs as a solution to the “free trade disaster” and rejected the idea of using the taxes for “political games.”
Shawn Fain, president of United Auto Workers, praised President Trump for addressing the problems with free trade while criticizing other key components of the Republican program. He said tariffs might be an essential instrument to protect the interests of working class people.
“We support some use of tariffs on auto manufacturing and other similar industries,” Fain said in a webcast. “We don’t support the use of tariffs for political games about immigration or fentanyl. We do not support reckless chaotic tariffs on all countries at crazy rates.”
Fain dismissed claims by the US auto industry that tariffs would damage US carmakers and lead to higher prices, likening the statements to those during 2023 UAW strike negotiations that ultimately resulted in hefty wage hikes for workers at General Motors, Ford and Jeep-maker Stellantis.
“Turns out the companies lied,” Fain said. “They could afford to do the right thing then and they can afford to do the right thing now.”
The comments were Fain’s most expansive to the national membership since Trump returned to office in January.
Fain shot to prominence with a strike of Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers in 2023 but his zealous campaigning for Democrat Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign proved controversial in a union where Trump also enjoys a vocal base of support.
On Wednesday, Trump dramatically increased duties on the second-largest economy in the world while halting for 90 days several of his most onerous penalties on other trading partners except China.
However, Trump has kept in place a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and aluminum that went into effect in mid-March, as well as a 25 percent tax on imported automobiles that went into effect last week.
Fain claimed that GM, Ford, and Stellantis could create 50,000 new jobs if they choose to run their US facilities at full capacity rather than moving manufacturing to Mexico, where labor is less expensive. He characterized the auto tariffs as a way to stop the “race to the bottom” in the auto sector.
Trump’s administration is the first “in my lifetime that’s been willing to do something about this broken free trade system,” Fain said.
But Fain blasted the Trump administration’s cuts to health research funding, attacks on Social Security and crackdown on free speech that has included the detention of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, a former UAW member.
“We’ve seen the absolute trampling of constitutional rights,” Fain said.
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