United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby offered guarded praise for President Donald Trump’s controversial new tariff policy, calling the goals behind it “laudable.”
United Airlines CEO Praises Policy Rationale For Trump Tariff Policy
During a White House Rose Garden event on Wednesday, Trump laid out his rationale for a new bevy of tariffs he calls “Liberation Day” for the USA. Among the changes:
- 10% baseline tariff on all goods imported into the USA
- Higher tariffs based on reciprocity (taking into account both direct and indirect trade barriers) against some nations and goods:
- European Union: 20%
- China: 54%
- Vietnam: 46%
- Thailand: 36%
- Japan: 24%
- Cambodia: 49%
- South Africa: 30%
- Taiwan: 32%
- United Kingdom 10%
- Singapore 10%
- Brazil 10%
- Australia 10%
- New Zealand 10%
- Turkey 10%
- Colombia 10%
- Argentina 10%
- El Salvador 10%
- United Arab Emirates 10%
- Saudi Arabia 10%
The new rates will become effective at 12:01 AM on April 9, 2025.
As Trump sees it:
“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike. American steelworkers, autoworkers, farmers and skilled craftsmen, we have a lot of them here with us today, they really suffered gravely. They watched in anguish as foreign leaders have stolen our jobs. Foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories, and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once beautiful American dream.”
His plan has sent stock exchanges diving today, with some investors fearing that Trump’s ambitious measures to lower the US trade deficit will tip the US economy into recession.
I’ve been at a United Airlines event at San Francisco International Airport today, which I’ll share more about tomorrow, but I could not wait to report on Kirby’s tariff comments.
Kirby shared his off-the-cuff thoughts on the new tariffs while making remarks about United’s efforts to create durable middle-class careers, not just jobs, for its employees. Calling the new Trump policy a “genuine desire to create more careers” in the USA, he added:
“Some may disagree with the way and tactics, but the goal I think is a laudable one.”
I caught up with Kirby after the event and expressed surprise at his candor over tariffs. He told me he did not even go up on stage expecting to touch on the new tariff policy…it just came out. That’s classic Kirby…the man speaks his mind and I do greatly admire that.
We shared a good laugh that Delta CEO Ed Bastian or American Airlines CEO Robert Isom would never speak so freely. While guarding your tongue is an important skill, I do find Kirby an approachable and down-to-earth leader and I respect him, even if I find myself firmly in the free trade camp.
And it is good business for a carrier so reliant upon the federal regulatory system to curry favor with the administration in power…it just makes sense from a pragmatic perspective.
Time will tell, though, whether the new US trade policies will help or hurt United and the entire global aviation market.
I think that the decision to impose these tariffs is totally misguided and politically disastrous for the US president. However, I also think that it could have some very interesting consequences (possibly unintended) in undermining the reserve currency status of the dollar which is basically unsustainable for both the USA itself as well as for the rest of the world- the system just doesn’t work with the US share of global GDP about to fall below 20%.
The comment by Kirby is, of course, nothing but sucking up to the government. Not sure whether that’s a good idea, I suppose that in the current climate it’s a relatively high risk/high reward tactic.
This in particular scares me as a world traveler, I very much like a strong USD, especailly versus the Euro. I like parity…and with the CHF too. I cannot believe how strong the CHF has become…
The issue is that it cannot go on indefinitely- the longer they kick the can (money printing, government debt, trade imbalance) down the road, the more painful the inevitable readjustment will be.
But can you explain why the two are directly-related?
Why can’t a reduction in deficit spending by raising taxes and cutting government programs not address that without destroying a fragile system of free trade that has taken decades to build and may have hurt certain American workers but has greatly helped others by allowing for the products we need for daily life at a far cheaper price, thereby increasing in a utilitarian sense our standard of living?
My formal education in economics was completed by the middle of my undergraduate degree, so the explanation is going to be a bit less scientifically robust than I would have liked, and I stand to be corrected by anyone who is well versed in the finer details of the global monetary system, but I believe that the money printing that goes towards increasing US government debt is helpful in providing global trade with liquidity. Once the printing stops, liquidity constraints would cause issues across supply chains etc.
Like I said, I don’t think that the current US administration are trying to resolve a wicked problem like that; they’re probably just doing some old-fashioned chest-beating to sell to domestic audiences and possibly intimidate some small countries into bilateral trade deals. Unless they’re planning to climb down in the next few weeks, I can’t see the idea working for them.
the tariffs are the TAX INCREASE that has been needed
Trump simply isn’t taxing labor as some wants him to do
The tariffs are a disaster and are going to have both long and short term consequences that’ll leave American households needlessly worse off – full stop. I’m as concerned (to put it gently) as anyone and pray course is reversed on this quickly.
Despite all that, I have a hard time faulting Kirby on this one – as others have said time and time again it’s a heavily regulated industry and if this is what he has to do to curry favor with the admin then this is what he has to do. Frankly it’s a pretty benign way of doing so – not like he gave a full throated endorsement of current trade policy. “Supporting middle class jobs” isn’t exactly a political landmine.
I have a hard time believing he’s naive to the potential downsides this could have for his airline, especially given just how exposed they are to international travel.
I like a strong USD too…but i’m generally in favor of protecting American industry. Maybe a balance to be struck at a later date.
I hope people who disagree with Kirby aren’t going to go crazy here and start boycotting UA over this though….
Trump’s kindergarten level understanding of global economics is already causing severe economic heartburn around the world. I guess Kirby is a bigly fan of huge economic slowdowns, those being great for business. I never thought well of Kirby but until now I never thought he was actually stupid.
He probably isn’t stupid, just shallow and short-termist. This is an age-old problem for American businesses, the stock markets there aren’t looking further than a couple of quarters ahead, and that incentivises certain management styles and personality types.
Or he could just STFU and not say anything. Nobody wants to hear his opinion on this topic.
Jimmy Carter made a huge mistake when he broke relations with Taiwan and established relations with China. He thought American white people were superior to ugly Asian people so the new ties would mean a huge market for American products. Instead, China filled America with their stuff and put up huge barriers, like refusing to let Ford and GM sell cars unless they made them in China WITH local Chinese partners, allowing China to learn US technology. The US did nothing but bend their posterior over to get spanked.
What Trump is doing now is very clumsy but the idea is totally sound, to try to get other countries to end trade barriers and tariffs. Some countries ban US agricultural products, like pork or beef.
However, I suspect that Trump has one bad motive and that is to use tariffs as a revenue source to close the deficit. So even if countries improve, Trump may or may not lower the tariffs.
One sad thing is that American car companies no longer make cars anymore with the exception of the Ford Mustang and Chevy Corvette and one Cadillac. If I want a car, it has to be a foreign brand, no choice.
You’re an idiot if you think tariffs are sound economic policy. Dumbest idea ever and only the stupid thinks this is a good idea.
Jimmy Carter type thinking, which is why China r4ped America.
Tariffs are good economic policy if used the proper way, such as a bargaining chip or to compensate for protectionism by the other country.
You really are an idiot for thinking so. They are terrible economic policy and the entire world outside of maga asshats knows that. You cannot site a single economic study or period of history that says otherwise: it’s terrible. And we are going to suffer badly.
Wake the f* up. We are getting raped by Trump and all you can say is give me more.
Ryan, give it up. It’s a cult. Their brains need to be rewired and that won’t happen until they hit rock bottom. That will happen soon, and unfortunately due to the ignorance and cowardice of many Americans all we can do is sit back and watch and hopefully not get hurt.
Remember, these morons are following a man who was handed everything for nothing and still managed to go bankrupt 5 times doing exactly what he’s doing now. Unfortunately, now he’s doing it with the US economy and this will not end well.
But trust me, regardless of what happens it will be blamed on Obama, Biden, Hillary or now Carter. These are the people still claiming the 2020 election was stolen….and somehow just the presidency.
This chaos will only end in disaster. My hope is sooner rather than later. So we can start to pick up the pieces and rebuild (and as history has shown us, the rebuilding and fixing will be done by a democratic administration as it has been done for decades).
I foresee a lot of empty seats in transoceanic flights coming up. Is he angling for a bail out already?
You have to be the dumbest person on the planet if you think these tariffs are good for America.
I think he is saying this because he desperately wants slots at JFK. If I recall – he supported some Biden initiatives – but I may be mistaken
It’s a diplomatic, but chicken shit response form somebody trying not to get singled out by Trump. Ed Bastian did the same thing after the DCA collision.
Meanwhile no tarrifs for Russia..I am sure United can’t wait to add Moscow back to their map.
Seriously though… What does Russia have that anyone else might want? Natural gas, sure, hut otherwise?
Strippers?
Democrats have made as many horrible mistakes as republicans. We need to move forward. There is no other choice. The tariffs will probably be damaging but bipartisan think tanks cannot be certain.
Our best approach is to be open-minded and place our collective nation’s interests first. Kirby is putting the best spin on future travel as sanity allows. And I am not optimistic after the third quarter.
Hahaha. Hell no. Next stop, civil war.
Hey sweet Darin. I am ready and have nothing to lose. I am tired of the lack of any original thought. Anyone can parrot, no one think without a script. : / sad.
Sounds like you are leaning into the MAGA train. Good luck. I hope you get a good welcome to the wrong side of history. There is nothing original in these thoughts. It is pure evil and greed. And our nation is about to pay the ultimate price. Civil war is indeed coming.
The rest of the world will enjoy free trade while the US will become another Russia. Nobody is going to want or need our crap, and everything made here is going to be expensive as hell.
As for Kirby, he is smart. He knows if he says nice things about trump he can get whatever he wants, be it regulatory green lights if he wants to swallow up other airlines with all the future turmoil, or bailouts if things really hit the fan.
There is no way that these tariffs will be good for United. The impact on international travel goes without saying, but this is also going to lead to people throughout the economy having less discretionary income to spend on things like travel. Even if domestic production ramps up (a process that will take years if not decades), goods will still be more expensive because of the high cost of living in the US, which will get much higher because of these massive new taxes on all consumers, which will likely collapse the economy before domestic production even gets into gear.
George Bush( jr.)spoke of his support of a strong US dollar,then not long after it was trading below parity to the canuck peso.I don’t think Trump is that foolish.
“I don’t think” being the operative phrase here.
The USD has been described by most analysts as “fundamentally overvalued” for quite some time now, with estimates averaging out at around 15%. Tariffs will make this worse, with fewer imports leading to less international exchange leading to a relative scarcity of USD and pushing their value even higher. On the bright side, that might be a good time to start cashing-out the $850B in US debt held by China, the $740B held by the UK, and the $1000B held by Japan.
I was there and must say, of all the places to make such a statement – San Francisco?
“Some may disagree with the way and tactics, but the goal, I think, is a laudable one,”
And feeding the world is a laudable goal too but you don’t give all your food away at the expense of your own countries people. Maybe a stupid analogy but just because a goal is “laudable” doesn’t mean the methods to achieve it are smart or good or beneficial. What a crock.
We’re heading to Europe soon for a couple weeks vacation. I wonder if the tariffs will impact the USD/Euro exchange or hit travelers in other ways. I’m not an expert on economics so just wondering.
United stock has dropped 50% in the last 60 days—not a good thing
Jeez. I should have sold it when it was over $100.
Actually it looks like I should have sold everything 2 months ago. Another day or 2 like this and I’ll have lost all my gains from the last 4 years. Thanks a lot s**t for brains trump voters
Cashed out in Jan. Sorry but if you didn’t see this train wreck coming you weren’t paying attention. Google Herbert Hoover who is apparently Trump’s hero. Get your assets protected before the ROW dumps the dollar and Republicans add $5 Trillion to the debt ceiling… we’re headed for Latin America bad where a loaf of bread costs $5,000 when we hit hyperinflation.
I predict these tariffs will bring parity, quickly.
As far as the stock market goes, this too shall pass. Bear Market? I think not.
Meanwhile, any economist with a decent resume disagrees with you. But as a commenter on a mileage blog of course you know best.
The republicans ruin America… From the best economy in the world under Biden with prosperity and growth … to depression.. all thanks to Trump.
Trump.. making America poor again
Who knew Kirby likes to bend over for special K addicted grifters? give it a month and when UAs vast international network is bleeding cash as international planes are flying at 30-40% loads. The anger outside the US is real and the halt on all business travel is now dropping hard. I would wait for the stock to hit about $5-$10 a share before reinvesting and wait for the fire sale on global routes coming in a month if you are comfortable going abroad this summer as they desperately try to fill seats and avoid another trip to bankruptcy court in the next year. They are probably better positioned than AA and DL at this point with the safety concerns of those two …so they at least they have that. Doubt Trumpers or RepubliCons will be bailing out US companies this go around as they seem hellbent on burning down America for their Putin- masters.
Trump voters had only complaints about the price of eggs. They rallied around the idiocy of eggs and that immigrants were eating the cats and dogs.
Meanwhile, three months in, the price of eggs is slightly cheaper but everyone has now lost significant amounts of their investments as the entire market crashes and middle class America is gutted. We have no Govt, no infrastructure, no country.
But, hey, enjoy those eggs. And your cats and dogs – which you might be eating in a few years given this trajectory.
did a new lounge open in SFO?