Current Events > UAW Praises Trump's Tariffs to End the Free Trade Disaster

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/04/uaw-trump-tariffs-united-auto-workers

The United Auto Workers union on Tuesday hailed President Trump's new tariffs, saying it's necessary "to end the free trade disaster."

Why it matters: With about 1 million members, including retired workers, the UAW is one of the most powerful unions in America.

It has historically supported Democrats, but many of the union's members voted for Trump, seemingly attracted by MAGA's emphasis on "America first."

lmao

These geniuses will be out of a job because of how integrated the North American auto industry is.

aren't a lot of "domestic" cars made outside of america? i think ford has plants in mexico

"free trade disaster"

free

trade

........ disaster???

WHAT THE FUCK?????

KnightofShikari posted...

aren't a lot of "domestic" cars made outside of america? i think ford has plants in mexico

Yes. Most American companies makes tons of cars outside of America. Also, even those made in America have parts constantly moving across countries. Each passage racks up a tariff now.

You cant convince stupid to use logic

KnightofShikari posted...

aren't a lot of "domestic" cars made outside of america? i think ford has plants in mexico

remember how during covid the entire car industry got fucked up because the supply of chips from asia couldnt get here? A bunch of parts are made outside the US

My next car will be Japanese.

Make America beg again.

2001mark posted...

My next car will be Japanese.

Make America beg again.

The funny thing is as of now cars made in Japan are barely effected, if at all by these tariffs. A car made in America is vastly more likely to be effected by tariffs.

KnightofShikari posted...

aren't a lot of "domestic" cars made outside of america? i think ford has plants in mexico

yes or they make most of the parts in other countries and just put them together here

The UAW are fucking morons. Not only are auto workers in Canada (and Mexico I guess) going to lose their jobs but so will Americans. The entire industry is going to grind to a halt.

YellowSUV posted...

lmao

These geniuses will be out of a job because of how integrated the North American auto industry is.

this ahahahah

I see the Nissan Leopard is getting its fill of front bumpers.

YellowSUV posted...

The funny thing is as of now cars made in Japan are barely effected, if at all by these tariffs. A car made in America is vastly more likely to be effected by tariffs.

and don't some foreign makers have plants in america anyways? i know there's a toyota and hyundai factory in alabama. wonder how the tariffs will affect that

2001mark posted...

My next car will be Japanese.

Make America beg again.

What car? Almost everything is made here unless it's a Lexus or a Porsche/Lambo/LR.

The parts won't be though.

KnightofShikari posted...

and don't some foreign makers have plants in america anyways? i know there's a toyota and hyundai factory in alabama. wonder how the tariffs will affect that

Yes. It's the parts that are the problem. Even cars assembled here have parts from our the country which will have tariffs applied.

KnightofShikari posted...

and don't some foreign makers have plants in america anyways? i know there's a toyota and hyundai factory in alabama. wonder how the tariffs will affect that

Toyota has a lot of plants in the US/Canada/Mexico. Usually only their higher end autos are imported from Japan.

The tariffs will effect Toyota's North American (including the USA) made cars more than their Japanese made cars.

wonder if any of the foreign car makers would close their american plants if it gets too expensive, laying off workers because of trump's idiotic tariffs

DoesntMatter posted...

"free trade disaster"

free

trade

........ disaster???

WHAT THE FUCK?????

I mean it's fair for them to say that given how many jobs have been shipped over seas.

KnightofShikari posted...

wonder if any of the foreign car makers would close their american plants if it gets too expensive, laying off workers because of trump's idiotic tariffs

If the Greenville SC BMW plant goes away it's GGs for the state. It's the largest city in SC thanks to plant.

Ditto for the Volvo plant in Charleston and the Scout (VW) plant in Columbia

KnightofShikari posted...

wonder if any of the foreign car makers would close their american plants if it gets too expensive, laying off workers because of trump's idiotic tariffs

I've heard rumors of some plants pausing (and eventually closing) if these tariffs actually last and aren't some short lived stunt by Trump.

If these tariffs keep up the auto industry is screwed. You can't magically just switch the entire process of building a car to being made in America. It will take years at a minimum.

Basically what will likely happen is the price cars will increase too much for most buyers and the cars will be piling up on lots being unsold. Dealers will stop buying since they would be losing money on them so the auto makers would close up shop instead of building stuff they are losing money on.

Who will they blame when they lose everything?

I don't remember if it was UAW, but i remember there was a union rep who sided with Trump over trans issues. It's a shame that these unions have zero self preservation as working conditions will erode to reflect closer to slave labor than the wealthy want.

jefffan posted...

What car? Almost everything is made here unless it's a Lexus or a Porsche/Lambo/LR.

The parts won't be though.

Mazda cars are made in Hiroshima.

Mazda SUVs are made in Mexico or Alabama.

They side with Trump because they don't like.. Their jobs?

KnightofShikari posted...

aren't a lot of "domestic" cars made outside of america? i think ford has plants in mexico

Yes. I always joked back in my car days when I went from a Mitsubishi eclipse to a Pontiac trans am that it was amusing 1 was built in America and the other was built in Mexico.

There are smarter ways to go about this(VAT for example)...

Wait until they find out how many imports go into the production of cars as they watch their industry completely collapse under the weight of the increased costs.

Then it will be, B-b-b-but what about MY job?! Whats he gonna do to fix this?! I didnt think the leopards were gonna get me!!!.

Just like every other shortsighted and disastrously stupid thing Trump does.

Donald Trumps victory in the 2024 election has dealt a significant blow to UAW President Shawn Fains efforts to rebuild the unions political influence. Despite an aggressive campaign to support Vice President Kamala Harris, the unions influence fell short, particularly among its members, who were divided in their political leanings. The defeat raises questions about Fains political sway within the membership and the effectiveness of the unions efforts.

quoted from
https://www.cbtnews.com/uaw-faces-setback-in-trumps-victory-undermining-efforts-to-rebuild-political-influence/

UAW was my garbage union when I was a graduate student at the University of Washington. You could count on them to take part of your paycheck and then absolutely cave to the constant increases in fees UW put on us students (UW even lost in arbitration on fee increases and UAW still caved saying it would cost too much to litigate). Being in a union in Japan has made me realize how shit a lot of unions are in America (I was also in Teamsters for a while).

The damage is already done. Everyone along the supply chain is trying to pass the tariffs on to the next (manufacturing) customer so someone in the middle of the it is going to get hit with the bill and shutdown everything. Vehicles are going to soar past their covid prices briefly before becoming impossible to even find because there are none left.

Even if trump cancels the tariffs to try to fix it just a week of disruption on this scale will ripple throughout the industry for a couple years.

SaikyoStyle posted...

Who will they blame when they lose everything?

Which ever minority catches their eye first.

"My job can only exist under tariffs and protectionist trade policies" is not a great argument for the UAW

Amazing how UAW can be so based with trying to get a whole bunch of unions to align their contracts to expire at the same time in an attempt to launch a general strike, but also do dumb shit like praise Trump's policies.

Starks posted...

"My job can only exist under tariffs and protectionist trade policies" is not a great argument for the UAW

To be fair, the EU levies a 10% tariffs on all US cars to protect the German Auto industry. Prior to Trump's latest bump, the US had a tariff on European cars of 2.5%. The reason why they're supporting this is likely because they specifically are victims of foreign tariffs driving down the competitiveness of us automakers.

Now, that doesn't make his broad sweeping tariffs any less dumb, and it's definitely still going to hurt them when it comes to parts acquisition, but the Auto industry is one of the few cases where you can actually make a reasonable argument around unfair policies.

All for what? Being terrified of $20k Chinese EVs that would dominate the market if allowed to compete?

jefffan posted...

If the Greenville SC BMW plant goes away it's GGs for the state. It's the largest city in SC thanks to plant.

Ditto for the Volvo plant in Charleston and the Scout (VW) plant in Columbia

I didn't realize there was so much auto manufacturing in SC..

KnightofShikari posted...

aren't a lot of "domestic" cars made outside of america? i think ford has plants in mexico

Parts and the assembled car may cross the border as many as four times during building. Meaning those genius tariffs get applied every time.

Starks posted...

All for what? Being terrified of $20k Chinese EVs that would dominate the market if allowed to compete?

By relying on terrible worker and safety practices. China working hard to keep their people poor. Many can't even afford their own stuff.

Sir_Will posted...

By relying on terrible worker and safety practices. China working hard to keep their people poor. Many can't even afford their own stuff.

Yes, but we're surrendering market even if we wanted to compete with proper labor standards and a price that's higher to reflect that. There are so many different EV offerings and upstarts in China. We're basically surrendering on EVs because everyone is so divided on certain manufacturers and others like Hyundai or Rivian don't get the proper attention. Even for domestic cars here in the US, including gas engines, I see a clear pattern and lack of innovation compared to Korea and Japan. Basically no advanced safety features or driver assistance until you're at a top trim with blue cruise. All these other manufacturers are offering these features on basic trims now.