Radical tariff plan has surprising auto industry supporter

On the opening night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 15, 2024, United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain used a completely unexpected pop culture tidbit to personify the power of modern American organized labor. 

“In the words of the great American poet Nelly: ‘It’s getting hot in here,’” Fain exclaimed. At the same time, he removed his navy sport coat to expose a bright red UAW T-shirt that read ‘Trump is a scab, Vote Harris’ to raucous applause in the United Center. 

“It’s hot in here. It’s hot in here because you’re fired up and you’re fed up, and the American working class is fired up and fed up. The American working class in a fight for our lives.”

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In much of Fain’s speech that night, the UAW president praised former Vice President Kamala Harris for standing in solidarity with the union; particularly when the UAW was striking against Detroit’s Big Three automakers before signing a landmark contract in late 2023. 

At the same time, Fain labeled the now-President Donald Trump ‘a scab,’ a term used by labor unions to signify strikebreakers or workers who cross picket lines to work against the will of striking unionized workers. 

But with Trump in the Oval Office for a second term, the UAW is having to work with the person their leader actively campaigned against. However, Fain is on board with working with Trump on protecting American labor.

UAW President believes tariffs can help protect union autoworkers

In a recent opinion piece published in the Washington Post, Fain expressed hope that he and his union can find common ground with Trump and the current administration. 

Notably, Fain used his mouthpiece to support one of Trump’s more decisive and divisive policies: tariffs, citing its potential benefit for the autoworkers who make up his membership. 

“We do not agree with Trump on much of his domestic agenda, but we hope to find common ground on overhauling our devastating trade policies and rebuilding U.S. manufacturing,” Fain said. “Trump has promised to enact tariffs to protect workers, and we agree that tariffs are a necessary tool. As long as corporations can ship jobs out and ship products in at rock-bottom rates without penalty, they will continue doing so.”

Recently, Trump gave a February 1 deadline for levying double-digit tariffs on goods imported from Canada, Mexico, and China. Though many experts and pundits believe these tariffs will have a negative effect on the auto industry, Fain suggests that if done correctly, tariffs should help “bring jobs back to America, put products in communities such as Belvidere, Illinois, and push companies to invest in good jobs, not exploit workers abroad.”

“We need tariffs not only to protect our communities but also to create leverage for negotiating a fair-trade system,” he added. “American workers deserve tariff rate quotas that guarantee a significant percentage of goods sold in the United States are made right here at home. We need to know that if we go to work and build a good product, our jobs won’t be offshored just so companies can do another round of stock buybacks.”

Related: U.S. tariff plan won’t work for the auto industry

USMCA should be renegotiated, says Fain 

Automakers and other consumer-goods companies’ ability to sell their goods at competitive rates is largely due to landmark trade legislation like the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), an amended deal that replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that was initially signed by leaders of the respective countries in 1994. 

Given that the USMCA and NAFTA, which came before it, allow automakers to set up factories in Canada and Mexico for export and sale in the States, it is obvious to the general public and leaders like the UAW’s Shawn Fain that automakers would use this to their advantage. 

In his opinion piece, the UAW boss believes that the USMCA must be renegotiated to include provisions “rooted in fair trade principles,” namely, stronger labor rights beyond our borders.

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“The USMCA should be revised to ensure Mexican workers exporting to the United States earn family-sustaining wages. This will not only grow the North American economy but protect workplaces in America,” he said. 

“We should strengthen and expand the labor rights in the USMCA, as nearly five years later, it’s evident that the Mexican government has largely enacted its labor reforms in name only, without meaningful enforcement.”

Additionally, he used some pages out of Trump’s book to denote that corporations like Detroit’s Big Three are taking advantage of the USMCA because they exploit cheaper, overseas workers at the expense of workers in Detroit, Toledo, and other manufacturing towns-a move rooted in what he sees as corporate greed. 

“As Trump himself has put it, “free trade” has been “carnage” for the American working class. The corporate class rigged the deck and dealt American workers a losing hand. It’s time to reshuffle the deck and fix our broken trade deals for workers everywhere. The UAW stands ready to support any politician or administration that takes on corporate greed to do exactly that.”

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