(NewsNation) — U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is set to hit the road for a nationwide “listening tour” with an impressive jobs report that says the economy grew by 280,000 positions last month.
Tempering that good news is the stunning two-day market downturn that followed President Trump’s Wednesday announcement of global tariffs.
Chavez-DeRemer noted union leaders have backed the president’s trade move, which Trump says will strengthen the U.S. economy in the long run by creating new jobs at home.
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“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,” Chavez-DeRemer told “CUOMO” on Friday. “And we’re going to need these workers to build these plants, these factories, as we move forward.”
Many economists disagree with the Trump administration’s tariff strategy and say it could spur a recession at home. Chavez-DeRemer said Trump used tariffs successfully in his first term.
“The president is … making the best protections for the American worker. Wherever he has to make a move or pivot, it’s always going to be that he’s protecting us,” she said.
The Labor Department said Chavez-DeRemer will meet with a broad array of stakeholders during her “America at Work” listening tour. Her first stop takes place this weekend in Pennsylvania.
