AFL-CIO president laughs at Trump’s assertion that unions support new trade pact

The president of the largest labor organization in the U.S. reportedly laughed at President Trump’s repeated assertions that unions support the new North American trade agreement, according to Politico.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told the outlet that maybe Trump is “talking about the unions in some other country” while laughing at the fact Trump said unions are “in favor” of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in line to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

“I don’t have a clue” where Trump gets that from, Trumka told Politico, adding that unions are “pretty united.”

{mosads}Trump is pushing for the USMCA to pass Congress this year, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meeting with him and party leadership this week to discuss the deal.

Trumka said while the new deal has some improvements from NAFTA, work still needs to be done on it to garner support from organized labor.

“We still have a lot of work to do and rushing this thing or trying to push it through to a vote will backfire, because if people were forced to vote on the current text, they would have to vote ‘no,'” Trumka told the news outlet.

Trumka cautioned rushing the deal to a vote before hammering out details with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who will control when it hits the House floor for a vote.

“There are people in the Trump administration that are trying to rush this thing through and I think it’s a terrible, foolish strategy because it will blow up in their face,” he said. “I think the reasonable people in the Trump administration know it’s more important to get this right than to do it tomorrow.”