Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said on Sunday that President Trump is “not wrong” in identifying the gutting of the manufacturing industry as an issue, but he said the president is wrong about tariffs as the solution.
“Here's the thing that the Democrats have to figure out. Donald Trump's language around this, he's not wrong that we have had manufacturing gutted. He's not wrong that we saw an outshoring. People of my generation were told there aren't going to be any manufacturing jobs, so you need to go to college and rack up student loan debt,” Walz said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
"The problem is, Donald Trump's solution to this is not the solution,” Walz added.
Walz was asked about United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain’s statement of support for Trump’s auto tariffs.
Fain, who has historically backed Democrats, called the tariffs "a long-overdue shift away from a harmful economic framework that has devastated the working class. It signals a return to policies that prioritize the workers who build this country, rather than the greed of ruthless corporations.”
When anchor Jake Tapper noted that Fain’s language is similar to language Walz frequently uses himself, the governor responded, “Yes, it is what I would use.”
“Now, UAW is right,” he later added. “Certain tariffs, if they're on to steel or if they're targeted correctly, do make a difference. That's not what we're dealing with here.”
“And I think this is the Democratic dilemma. Donald Trump talks about the things that are real in the angst of people's lives. He doesn't do a damn thing about it. In fact, he does just the opposite. And he pals around with the people that caused the problem,” he said.
Walz noted Democrats are also to blame: “And we don't offer them a solution, so it looks like we're not hearing them.”
"So I disagree with Shawn Fain and UAW on this issue," he added. "I don't disagree with them on that we made decisions over the last 30 to 40 years that I don't think helped America. But this is not the solution to it. Isolating ourselves is not the solution."
