WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump criticized the leader of the nation's largest union federation on Monday, escalating tensions between the administration and organized labor amid crucial negotiations for both sides over the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, had on Sunday disputed the White House's strategy for renegotiating the NAFTA trade pact and argued that Trump had "done more to hurt workers than to help" them since taking office.
Trumka, whose organization is an umbrella group for most unions, criticized the Mexico-only approach in an interview on Fox News Sunday, calling NAFTA in its current form "devastating" to American workers but questioning how it could be renegotiated without Canada.
"Our economies are integrated," Trumka said. "It's hard to see how that would work without having Canada in the deal."
Those comments elicited a sharp reply from Trump, who blasted Trumka as an ineffectual leader just as union members across the country prepared for Labor Day celebrations.
"Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO, represented his union poorly on television this weekend," Trump said in a tweet. "Some of the things he said were so against the working men and women of our country, and the success of the U.S. itself, that it is easy to see why unions are doing so poorly. A Dem!"
The AFL-CIO didn't respond directly. It posted a tweet on Monday recognizing Labor Day with audio from a Trumka speech that began, "We don't fear the attacks against us."
The rift comes after the administration submitted a letter late last week formally notifying Congress that it would enter a trade agreement with Mexico, adding that Canada could be included at a later date "if it is willing." The letter starts a 90-day process for reworking the trade deal ahead of a transition of presidential power in Mexico, as Trump seeks to fulfill a key campaign promise to revamp NAFTA ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
The deal brokered between Mexico and the U.S. has many provisions that have earned the support of organized labor, including more robust rules for automobile production.
Trump said Saturday on Twitter that there was "no political necessity" to keep Canada in NAFTA. But it's questionable whether Trump can unilaterally exclude Canada from a deal to replace the three-nation NAFTA agreement, without the approval of Congress. Any such move would likely face lengthy legal and congressional challenges.
Talks between Canadian and American officials fell apart late last week.
Trump administration negotiations to keep Canada in the reimagined trade bloc are to resume this week as Washington and Ottawa try to break a deadlock over issues such as Canada's dairy market and U.S. efforts to shield drug companies from generic competition.
The White House didn't respond Monday to questions about the Canadian negotiations and whether any U.S. lawmakers of either party support the president's position.
Trumka also criticized Trump over the Republican tax law passed last fall, arguing it would increase the outsourcing of American jobs. In addition, the union leader criticized the president for failing to defend a President Barack Obama-era rule mandating additional overtime pay and for failing to pass legislation to improve U.S. infrastructure, among other issues.
"Unfortunately, to date, the things he has done to hurt workers outpace what he has done to help workers," Trumka said. "We'll keep trying to find areas where we can work with him."
Asked about the low unemployment rate and economic growth, Trumka said "those are good, but wages have been down since the first of the year. Gas prices have been up since the first of the year. So, overall, workers aren't doing as well."
On Monday, Trump touted the economy, saying. "Our country is doing better than ever before with unemployment setting record lows." He added; "The Worker in America is doing better than ever before. Celebrate Labor Day!"
The unemployment rate of 3.9 percent is not at the best point ever -- it is near the lowest in 18 years.
Union membership nationwide has fallen markedly from the 1970s, with the percentage of American workers in a union dropping from about 25 percent in the 1970s to less than 11 percent in 2017, according to survey data.
Also on Monday, Trump abruptly canceled an outing and stayed at the White House to place calls on trade, his spokesman said, as he prepares for trade talks with both China and Canada this week.
Reporters were summoned for the presidential motorcade Monday morning, but shortly after Trump emerged from the White House wearing golf attire, the trip was canceled and the press dismissed for the day. The White House didn't say where he had planned to go. Trump spent much of the weekend at his northern Virginia golf club.
"The president stayed at the White House to make calls specifically on trade and other international issues," press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an email. She didn't elaborate.
In addition to the talks over NAFTA, Trump may also implement tariffs as soon as Thursday on as much as $200 billion in additional Chinese products, escalating his trade war with the Asian powerhouse.
Information for this article was contributed by Jeff Stein of The Washington Post; by staff members of The Associated Press; and by Justin Sink, Candice Norwood and Shawn Donnan of Bloomberg News.
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