UAW Asking for Heavy Equipment Section 232 Probe, New ROO, TRQs in USMCA
United Autoworkers labor union members from John Deere and Caterpillar visited the Commerce Department last week, asking the agency to launch a Section 232 investigation on imports of heavy machinery and equipment.
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They visited the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and said that the review of the USMCA should protect their sector, "including strong Rules of Origin, tariff rate quotas, and a sectoral minimum wage.
The members also visited members of Congress from Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin and California, "to raise the alarm on the devastating impact of bad trade deals, and fight layoffs and plant closures across the agricultural implements and construction equipment sector," the union tweeted.
They noted that John Deere has moved production from Iowa to Mexico and laid off hundreds of workers in Iowa since 2023; they said that Caterpillar is closing its Burlington, Iowa, plant at the same time it has three factories in Mexico "with rampant labor abuses, driving a race to the bottom."
"Executives at these companies think that the devastation of plant closures, lost jobs, broken homes, and the destruction of blue-collar communities are not their problem," UAW Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell said. "But the UAW is going to make these decisions a major problem for these corporations and their Wall Street buddies. We’re in Washington, D.C. this week to make their corporate greed a problem for politicians across the Midwest -- regardless of if they are a Democrat or Republican."
The tweet ended by saying, "The UAW will be making trade and the fight against mass layoffs and plant closures a major focus of our 2026 electoral efforts heading into the midterm elections to win for UAW members and the whole working class."