The head of the United Automobile Workers union voiced partial support on Thursday for the Trump administration’s tariffs, saying targeted duties on other countries could help bring some manufacturing jobs back to the United States.
But the union’s president, Shawn Fain, described President Trump’s across-the-board global tariffs as “reckless.” In an address to U.A.W. members that was streamed on YouTube and other social media, he also strongly criticized the administration for firing federal workers and slashing key government agencies, and accused it of violating the civil rights of students and others.
“We support use of some tariffs on automotive manufacturing and similar industries. We do not support tariffs for political games about immigration or fentanyl,” Mr. Fain said. “We do not support reckless tariffs on all countries at crazy rates.”
The address appeared aimed at distancing the union leader from Mr. Trump. In previous weeks, Mr. Fain praised the White House’s tariff plans and faced some criticism for moving closer to an administration that often shows hostility to organized labor. He campaigned frequently and enthusiastically last year for former Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, often rousing crowds by referring to Mr. Trump as a “scab.”
“We are not aligning everything we do with the Trump administration,” Mr. Fain said on Thursday. “We are negotiating with the Trump administration.”
Mr. Fain used the address to repeat familiar claims that free trade agreements — in particular, the North American Free Trade Agreement — allowed corporations to move U.S. factories and jobs to low-wage countries. He said some 90,000 factories in the United States closed in the last 30 years, hollowing out once thriving manufacturing cities like Flint, Mich., and Gary, Ind.
While he blamed both Democrats and Republicans for supporting policies that have hurt U.S. manufacturing, Mr. Fain said the resulting “pain and anger” had led many workers who traditionally supported Democrats to gravitate toward Mr. Trump.
“We have to end this free trade disaster, and we don’t care whether it’s a Republican or Democrat who does it,” he said.
Mr. Fain said that General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis had excess manufacturing capacity in their U.S. plants and could create thousands of auto assembly jobs by making full use of them.
He added that he disagreed with “90 percent of what the Trump administration is doing,” especially the cuts at the National Institutes of Health that have disrupted research into cancer and other diseases.
“We’ve seen the destruction of bargaining rights for one million federal workers. We’ve seen an attack on the National Labor Relations Board and the illegal firing of a board member,” he said. “We’ve seen the attacks on Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, programs that millions in the working class depending on.”
Mr. Fain did not mention Elon Musk, who as an adviser to Mr. Trump has been leading efforts to fire tens of thousands of federal workers and to make deep cuts at agencies including the Department of Education and Department of Veterans Affairs. Mr. Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, has strongly opposed U.A.W. efforts to organize Tesla’s workers in the United States.
Mr. Fain noted that Mahmoud Khalil, the recent Columbia University graduate who was arrested by federal immigration agents last month, had once been a student instructor represented by the U.A.W. Grant Miner, a graduate student who was expelled by the university last month, is president of U.A.W. Local 2710, which represents Columbia student workers.
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