Donald Trump was elected for a second term as president by millions of working-class voters who believe the economy no longer works for them. These voters were largely motivated by standard-of-living issues like inflation, wage growth, and affordable housing. Many of these votes were seemingly won by scapegoating immigrants as a major cause of the working class’s economic troubles. However, economists and union representatives largely agree that the incoming president’s economic policies could worsen the issues that blue-collar workers care about.

Trump’s economic agenda essentially amounts to a ticking time bomb for the American economy. He has proposed deporting millions of undocumented immigrants, most of whom have jobs and pay taxes. The self-proclaimed “tariff man” has also floated the idea of imposing import duties as high as 60 percent on items shipped from China and maybe 20 percent for goods from any other country. Economists say this would require American consumers to pay higher prices for necessary goods like food and gasoline and create significant headwinds for the US economy overall.

Trump also supports increasing corporate power over workers, which union reps say could reverse the wage and membership gains they saw over the last four years. During a town hall with X/Twitter owner Elon Musk in 2022, Trump said striking workers should be fired. He has also appointed anti-union officials to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) — the federal agency that advocates for workers’ rights — and encouraged employers to offshore jobs to find cheaper labor. With more measures like these likely in store, Trump’s second term could be devastating for American workers.