The head of the U.S. auto workers union endorsed car tariffs Thursday as a way to address the "free trade disaster" while rejecting use of the levies for "political games."
Praising President Donald Trump for tackling the ills of free trade while slamming other major elements of the Republican's agenda, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain described tariffs as a potentially vital tool to defend working-class interests.
"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 U.S. auto industry that tariffs would damage U.S. 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.
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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 paused for 90 days many of his most onerous tariffs on every trading partner except China, while significantly raising levies on the world's second biggest economy.
But Trump has maintained a 25% tariff on imported autos that went into effect last week, as well as a 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum that went into effect in mid-March.
Fain described the auto tariffs as a means to end the "race to the bottom" in the car industry, asserting that GM, Ford, and Stellantis could add 50,000 jobs if they chose to operate U.S. factories at full capacity instead of shifting production to Mexico, where labor is cheap.
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.