‘Something Has to Be Done!’ UAW Head Does Battle With MSNBC Hosts By Vigorously Defending Trump Tariffs

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain defended his support for President Donald Trump’s tariffs Sunday morning during a segment on MSNBC’s The Weekend.

Fain, who campaigned for Democrats last year, explained his support for the president’s disruptive trade shakeup with hosts Symone Sanders-Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez.

The hosts pressed him on why and how the UAW had found itself aligned with Trump’s trade agenda despite the former president’s generally anti-labor policies.

Sanders-Townsend called the tariffs “dangerous” and said critics who were portraying them as the sky falling were “probably right this time.” Fain replied:

No, I don’t believe they are. Look, here’s the problem. We’re talking about tariffs on everything out of the sun right now. Now, we’ve been very clear. We do believe, and we know, when it comes to auto, when it comes to heavy truck, and agricultural implementation, we know that tariffs will influence these companies to do the right thing and reinvest in this country and reinvest in factories in this country.

Fain went on to argue NAFTA had forced the closure of 90,000 factories since it was signed and is still harming American workers today.

Sanders-Townsend agreed the trade deal had harmed workers but argued Trump’s trade policies would not help unions as it would take years to rebuild the auto sector.

She added, “I’m really struggling to figure – to understand how UAW has aligned itself with Trump on this.”

Steele interjected, “How do tariffs create jobs?”

Fain responded that tariffs on foreign autos, trucks, and agricultural equipment—can push companies to invest in U.S. manufacturing.

“We support tariffs as a tool,” Fain said. “They’re not the end-all, be-all, but they motivate companies to do the right thing.”

Throughout the segment, Fain emphasized that the UAW was not endorsing Trump’s entire agenda, but saw value in his trade strategy.

“We’ve been clear—we disagree with this administration on a lot, including attacks on OSHA, on the NLRB, on DEI,” he said. “But we do agree that something has to be done to fix the broken trade system.”

The exchange grew sharper when Sanders-Townsend questioned how Trump’s sweeping tariffs would help, pointing out the slow pace of manufacturing recovery.

Fain pushed back, saying the U.S. doesn’t need to build new factories to bring back jobs.

“We can use the excess capacity we already have,” he said. “It’s a choice.”

Watch above via MSNBC.