The bosses of the AFL-CIO, the largest union in North America, have been silent as President Donald Trump is set to hike tariffs on China to protect American workers and U.S. industry from unfair foreign competition.
This week, Trump is increasing tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent. Trump is also threatening to impose a 25 percent tariff on an additional $325 billion worth of Chinese products. Last year, the Trump administration imposed a 25 percent tariff on about $50 billion worth of Chinese goods.
For months, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka warned the Trump administration against signing off on an “inferior” trade agreement with China, telling the Financial Times he wanted the president to hold strong:
If they go [on] the side of Wall Street, a couple of billionaires will benefit from it and do just fine, but the rest of the American people won’t do that. It will continue to hurt our economy and our ability to be a world power, because we are losing that capacity. [Emphasis added]
Since announcing the plan to hike tariffs against China, though, AFL-CIO bosses and Trumka have remained silent. Breitbart News requested a comment from the union but has not received a response.
Meanwhile, Democrat leaders have praised Trump’s escalation against China.
“Hang tough on China, President [Trump],” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wrote online. “Don’t back down. Strength is the only way to win with China.”
“The President is correct in asserting what we have to do with China,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told the Washington Post this week.
While Trump has raised the pressure against China, leading Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden has downplayed the Chinese as an economic threat to the U.S.
“China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man,” Biden said. “They can’t even figure out how to deal with … the corruption that exists within the system … they’re not competition for us.”
Since China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO), which Biden supported, the U.S. trade deficit with China has eliminated at least 3.5 million American jobs from the American economy. Millions of American workers in all 50 states have been displaced from their jobs, which have been lost due to U.S.-China trade relations.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.