On Monday, President Trump blasted American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) President Richard Trumka after the labor union leader criticized President Trump’s trade deal on Fox News.
In his Labor Day morning tweet, the President claimed that Trumka doesn’t share the same critique of his trade deal when “he is at the White House.”
“Just watched AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on @FoxNews and thought to myself how different he is on TV than he is when he is with me at the White House. Likes what we are doing until the cameras go on,” President Trump tweeted.
President Trump targeted the AFL-CIO head after he said that unions were not ready to back the president’s “unenforceable” replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
“We got robbed on Trade and everything else while his Dems just sat back and watched. NAFTA is the worst Trade Deal ever made – terrible for labor – and Richard let it stand. No wonder unions are losing so much. The workers will vote for me in 2020 (lowest unemployment, most jobs ever), and should stop paying exorbitant $Dues, not worth it!”
“An unenforceable trade deal is a windfall for corporations and a disaster for workers,” Trumka said on Sunday of the proposed United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement.
He also criticized President Trump’s handling of China, saying that taking on the nation “has to be a multilateral approach. … One country can’t take on China.”
President Trump and The White House and have pushed back on claims that the tariffs on Chinese goods will hurt consumers or farmers, arguing that only China will be impacted, The Hill reported.
Trumka and President Trump have feuded in the past. Trumka has criticized NAFTA but has repeatedly said that President Trump’s replacement USMCA deal is far worse and that unions are united against supporting it. He also led his own delegation to Mexico to discuss the deal.
The President has said that Trumka him self is one of the reasons that unions are performing “poorly.”
