Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer defended President Trump’s decision to slap new tariffs on global trading partners, suggesting in a new interview that the additional import taxes will protect American workers.
“I can tell you this, the president is focused on protecting the American worker through these tariffs. Fair trade practices are important to the American worker as well,” DeRemer told NewsNation’s “CUOMO” on Friday.
“We want to make sure, as I mentioned earlier, onshoring, repatriating these companies to build in America, and we’re going to need those workers to do so if the economy is growing,” she added.
Her comments come after Trump on Wednesday announced a 10 percent base tariff on imports from most foreign nations — as well as reciprocal tariffs that vary by country. The president, who defended the action on Saturday, has argued the tariffs will increase domestic manufacturing in the U.S. and create more jobs to boost the economy.
“We want to erase the losses of the last administration,” Chavez-DeRemer told host Chris Cuomo. “We want to make sure that we’re building up Americans economy. People are frustrated by what’s been happening, and now they feel like they’re on the right track, that they can invest.”
The Labor secretary pointed to representatives from several unions — including the Teamsters, United Auto Workers (UAW) and Communication Workers of America — who were at the White House when Trump unveiled the new tariffs as an example.
Still, the “Liberation Day” tariffs have been scrutinized by both sides of the aisle amid stock market dips and questions around how the taxes will impact consumer prices.
Chavez-DeRemer, a former Republican lawmaker, lauded the latest jobs report as proof that things are looking up.
In March, the U.S. economy added roughly 228,000 jobs and held a steady 4.2 percent unemployment rate, according to the data released Friday. The Oregon Republican, who was confirmed by the Senate to lead the Labor Department last month, said the positive economic report shows the Trump administration “knocked it out of the park.”
“Everybody was betting that the jobs numbers would be low,” Chavez-DeRemer said earlier in the interview Friday. “I can tell you, people are believing what the president is saying. He is the president of the American worker, and he’s proving that over and over again.”
“We’re focused on building back in America, repatriating these jobs, having businesses invest hundreds of billions of dollars in order to be the exporter that we need to be for American dominance,” she added.
One way to do that, she said, is by talking to the U.S. public face-to-face. The Labor secretary is set to visit all 50 dates during an upcoming “listening tour,” which will kick off over the weekend in Pennsylvania.