How this auto union leader's support for Trump's tariffs scrambled labor politics again

[TomCADem]

Trump is taking a page out of former Republican Herbert Hoover’s playbook. Herbert Hoover championed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, U.S. legislation (June 17, 1930, which raised import duties to protect American businesses and farmers. Likewise, Trump has been courting union support through his endorsement of similar tariffs. Will Democrats try to jump on the bandwagon like Democrat Debbie Dingell who has endorsed Trump’s protectionist moves? Or, will they try to take a page out of FDR’s playbook who campaigned against the act, and pushed for the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, which aimed to reduce tariffs and promoted trade?

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-auto-tariffs-union-workers-0de3e6f328cae87ded425380d0462516

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has once again scrambled the politics of organized labor and the working class with his planned tariffs on auto imports.

The White House is eagerly promoting supportive comments from the nation’s top auto worker union leader, a previous Trump critic who endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris over Trump in 2024. At least a few Democrats from auto-producing states have joined their Republican colleagues in applauding the tariffs that Trump casts as a long-term jobs boost for U.S.-based auto production. Other Democrats, meanwhile, have blasted Trump’s policy, warning that a trade war will drive up inflation and raise costs for all Americans.

Long-term consequences from Trump’s planned 25% tariffs on imported vehicles remain unclear, as does the fallout from additional tariffs he has announced on products coming from Canada, Mexico, China and other U.S. trading partners. But the latest political uproar highlights the ongoing effort by the Republican president to reorient party alliances and voter loyalties in ways that not only explain his 2024 comeback but could reverberate into the 2026 midterms and beyond.