Asked why he strongly supports the levies, the labor union chief replies: ‘It’s simple for us. We’re in a crisis mode in this country.’
Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union, expressed support for President Donald Trump’s tariffs against Mexico and Canada, saying the auto industry in the United States faces a crisis.
On March 4, the Trump administration imposed 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, citing fentanyl trafficking from the two countries into the United States. A one-month exemption was granted to automakers.
Both Mexico and Canada are key auto suppliers to the United States. When asked during a March 9 interview on ABC why he strongly supports the tariffs, Fain replied, “It’s simple for us. We’re in a crisis mode in this country.”
“There is no single issue in this country that has affected our economy and working-class people and their jobs than NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement], the USMCA [United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement], and our trade laws, our broken trade system,” he said.
“Tariffs are an attempt to stop the bleeding, from the hemorrhaging, of jobs in America for the last 33 years,” he said. “Tariffs aren’t the end solution. But they are a huge factor in fixing this problem.”
The decision to give a one-month exemption from the Mexican and Canadian tariffs to automakers came after the heads of General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis made a request to the president.
Several U.S. automakers depend on components from other countries in their manufacturing process. The exemption would give the companies time to adjust to new tariffs and potentially prepare to shift production back to the United States. The administration has granted the exemption to any cars imported from Mexico and Canada, which come under the USMCA trade deal.
According to Fain, since NAFTA’s inception, “we’ve lost 90,000 manufacturing facilities in the United States,” which comes to “1,800 manufacturing plants per state.”
“If any nation in the world lost that, their economy would be wrecked,” he said.
NAFTA came into effect in January 1994. It was terminated in June 2020 and replaced with USCMA in July 2020.
