UAW President Dennis Williams says the union supports President-elect Donald Trump's plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The United Auto Workers, which had campaigned against Donald Trump this fall, is prepared to support the Republican President-elect in his bid to overturn the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Meanwhile, both the Canadian government of Justin Trudeau, whose own union supporters want the NAFTA re-opened, and the government of Mexico have signaled they are willing to open talks with the new Trump administration on changing NAFTA, which has been instrumental in the development of a robust Mexican auto industry.
“We will work with President-elect Trump as much as we can,” UAW President Dennis Williams said during a session with reporters at UAW headquarters in Detroit.
The union campaigned against NAFTA before it was approved 1994, by the House of Representatives by a coalition that included a majority of House Republicans and West Coast Democrats.
The UAW has continued to attack the deal and probably helped lay the ground work for Trump’s attack this year, Williams acknowledged.
“We have always been very critical about trade agreements that did not protect American jobs, and American workers, and have been very vocal on it and very tough on it,” added Williams, who noted “in many cases (the deal) destroyed lives and destroyed the middle class.”
In fact, Williams said last summer after the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia that he had a firm commitment from Hillary Clinton that NAFTA would be re-negotiated if she became President.
President-elect Trump plans to renegotiate NAFTA and withdraw support from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
However, Trump managed to use the trade issue against Clinton in the Rust Belt, and she wound up losing three Rust Belt states, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and the White House by a small margin in each state.
(Auto industry issues will be high on the next president’s agenda. For more, Click Here.)
“Trade is a huge problem for the American people, who have seen their jobs and communities destroyed by these trade deals and they’re angry,” added Williams who estimated that more than one third of the UAW’s 425,000 members ultimately voted for Trump this week. More of the union’s older members over 50 probably cast their ballots for Trump, he added.
“It was a message that was resonating with our members,” added Williams. “I think Hillary Clinton got blamed for NAFTA. I think Donald Trump had a good message about how NAFTA destroyed jobs,” said Williams, adding he would like an opportunity to sit down and talk with Trump.
“When I look at the amount of money General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Nissan are putting into Mexico, that represents jobs walking away from our citizens,” said Williams, adding that Trump “turned the Republican Party “upside down” on a number of key issues.
Consequently, Williams said he is prepared to work with the President-elect on the trade issue. “I think his position on trade is the right one. I’m prepared to talk about that,” said Williams, noting that Trump has said he will scuttle the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership.
(To see more about the UAW’s anti-TPP stance, Click Here.)
Williams also said while he would like to see a 35% tariff on Mexican-made vehicles – something Trump proposed at several points during his free-wheeling campaign – it probably wasn’t practical or wise.
Many of the UAW’s members working for companies such as Caterpillar and CNH actually benefit from free trade. Last summer, Williams suggested one way to fix NAFTA would be to boost the wages of workers employed in Mexico’s auto industry.
In addition, many plants in the U.S. are dependent on part from Mexico and tariffs might be disruptive. But the union would like to see the issues discussed. Williams isn’t the only union leader to offer to work with Trump on trade-related issues.
“The President-elect has made promises to the American people on trade and manufacturing that are important to our members. We are ready to work with him to find common ground that will benefit working families,” noted James P. Hoffa, president of the Teamsters Union, which also campaigned for Clinton.
(Click Here to see more about UAW’s effort to get Clinton to rework NAFTA.)
Jerry Dias, president of Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, said last week and a supporter of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, said while he disagrees with Trump on most every issue, he does agree with him on trade because as negotiated, the current agreements are too one sided and allow multi-national companies to take advantage of low wages in Mexico.