Chuck Schumer Blasts UAW for Backing Trump's Auto Tariffs
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., attacked the United Auto Workers (UAW) union on Friday for endorsing President Donald Trump’s automobile tariffs.
The Democratic lawmaker argued that the UAW is misguided in supporting Trump’s tariffs, warning that they will hurt American families.
“Look, I respect them [UAW]. But the tariffs – if they wanted to do something about auto – should have been much more pinpointed and isolated than this massive assault on American families, all to help the billionaires,” Schumer told CNN host Dana Bash.
Watch:
UAW president Shawn Fain praised Trump for his tariffs on foreign-made automobiles and parts earlier this month.
“Yes, I disagree with Donald Trump on virtually everything, but [tariffs are] one thing I don’t disagree on,” Fain told an audience at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Fain, who previously supported Vice President Kamala Harris’s White House run, said the Democratic Party has not done enough to protect the American auto industry.
“We’ve begged Democrats, politicians for years, to do something to get these companies in line,” he said, praising Trump on the issue.
“I’m not going to sit here now and say that since he’s a Republican or because he’s Donald Trump, I’m going to say, ‘screw you.’ That’s not how we do things. It’s having integrity,” Fain said.
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Last week, Trump instituted 25% tariffs on outsourced cars and auto parts, which will hit domestic brands like Chevrolet. Chevrolet produces vehicles in Mexico, like the popular Equinox, and closed its major Lordstown, Ohio, assembly plant in 2020.
However, Schumer said the UAW ignores the adverse effects of Trump’s tariff policies.
“Look, there are certain tariffs that – pinpointed, careful, aimed at things that other countries are doing badly at us – makes sense. This is not that. This is across the board, 10% on everything, in addition to what other tariffs he‘s put on,” the Senate Minority Leader said.
Schumer was asked whether the auto tariffs alone were good, to which he replied, “Well, look, you have to look at it in the whole context of things. When there‘s such chaos in America, I think fewer Americans are going to buy cars—American cars or otherwise—because it‘s so chaotically done. So, I think it hurts everybody.”
Bash asked Schumer how he has been responding to Democratic lawmakers who have questioned his leadership after he caved to the GOP and approved a continuing resolution to keep the government from shutting down.
“We are now focused on the future, and we are focused on showing how awful this administration is,” he said.
“And you‘re going to find all of us [Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.], myself, and the whole Democratic Party united on what to do, and going forward, and going after Trump day in and day out, showing the American people that Trump has betrayed them, that he’s broken his promises, and that we’re on the side of working people, and he’s on the side of billionaires.”
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