WATCH: UAW President Shawn Fain Shares Full-Throated Support For Tariffs
"Free trade isn't free, it's a disaster"
Posted by Peter List, Editor | March 25, 2025
Amid the national discussion over the US trade deficit—which hit a record a high in 2024—and President Trump’s plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on other countries, very few union leaders have spoken out in favor of Trump’s plans.
Although the AFL-CIO Executive Council issued a statement earlier this month calling for “rebalancing trade, defending U.S. jobs against bad labor laws, and protecting our clear air and water are all reasons to seek a 21st century tariff policy dovetailed with a meaningful industrial policy,” very few have been as vocal as the United Auto Workers’ Shawn Fain.
On Monday, Fain—who was staunchly opposed to Donald Trump during the 2024 election campaign—released a video strongly encouraging tariffs.
While Fain did not mentioned Trump at all during the more than three-minute video, he talks about his personal experience of Ross Perot’s 1992 election campaign wherein Perot warned against what later became know as NAFTA, and Fain’s subsequent voting for Perot, as well as the thousands of plant that closed after NAFTA was implemented.