WASHINGTON — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer told Breitbart News exclusively in her office last week President Donald Trump’s entire focus during his “whole career” has been about protecting and advancing working class Americans’ interests and the “fruits of his labor are now paying off.”
“I think his whole life, his whole career he’s put this together,” Chavez-DeRemer told Breitbart News. “The fruits of his labor are now paying off.”
Trump’s Labor Secretary sat with Breitbart News for an exclusive interview in her office at the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday evening, a conversation that focused in large part on the working class coalition that Trump assembled in 2016 and expanded in his 2024 comeback victory. Chavez-DeRemer, a Hispanic businesswoman and former U.S. House member who has deep ties to unions given that her father was a Teamster, is at the cutting edge of this new political realignment in the U.S. given her position in Trump’s Cabinet as the sort of link between business and labor and workers.
“If you really kind of look at his [Trump’s] whole career, it really was about that coalition,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “In the first administration, he moved forward on it. But this one, he’s all in on it because of a couple of things. One, I think everybody’s voice wants to be heard. He really gets that on the American citizen, so if you’re talking about the American workforce, if you want to be heard as an American worker, then you want somebody who understands what maybe everybody’s been going through. Yes, I grew up the daughter of a Teamster. My dad worked for 30 plus years around the clock in order to provide for his three children and the family. My mom was a working parent too—we were kind of latchkey kids. Then building a business with my husband. So understanding the business side of it and how you have to negotiate the business side of it and then now how he’s applied that to the election. He won because of that. He said ‘I hear you. I understand what you’re going through. I’ve been through it. I understand how important it is to grow this economy and keep you having these American jobs, protect the American worker, grow American jobs, and grow the American economy.’ Now, he’s delivering on it. What are we 115 days? I knew in the first 100 days I was kind of the newbie, I’m the one who’s kind of like the new kid on the block, and it went like gangbusters. The next 100 is going to be even more fast-paced because of all the things he’s doing not only for the workforce but you see the tariff talks, you see the trade talks. He’s leveling the playing field so the American worker capitalizes on exactly what he’s doing. That’s key for someone like me to go out and do the job right behind him and say, ‘you see what he’s doing? Now let me grow that workforce.’”
Chavez-DeRemer said a huge focus of the president and this administration is on getting wages up for American workers. Directly talking about wages like this is a deviation in a positive way for Republicans, who often previously talked only about the meta-level economic system but never got down to brass tacks on what it means for the actual workers. That’s clearly changing with Trump back in the White House and Chavez-DeRemer leading the Department of Labor.
“Real life wages to the blue collar worker is hourly wages,” Chavez-DeRemer told Breitbart News. “They know we want that to grow and it has grown. Hourly wages have grown. We want the worker to be skilled—whatever skills they desire, we want to be able to provide for that in this country so they can choose where they want to earn their dollars and then they can keep those hard-earned dollars in their pockets. That’s why he’s doubling down on the no tax on tips—those kinds of things, when the American worker says ‘this is what I want to do, here’s how I want to keep my money,’ and he says ‘you know what? You should have the freedom to grow and live the American dream the way you choose.’ The Department of Labor as part of that equation is grow the apprenticeship program, grow the young talented workers we have in this country, and then let’s get them the jobs they want to do and not focus necessarily always on the four-year higher ed—it’s the skilled trades we need to build back the manufacturing losses we’ve seen over the last four years.”
Chavez-DeRemer has a huge picture of Trump hanging in her office, which she told Breitbart News she has up so everyone who comes in to meet with her knows where her priorities are. “I’m honored to work for the president of the United States—I can’t say that enough,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “You can probably tell by the photo I have of him on my wall. When people walk in here, that is who I’m working for and it couldn’t be clearer. I’m honored to do it.”
Each month since Trump’s return to the White House, jobs numbers have defied expectations and Chavez-DeRemer said that is because the president’s broad vision for the U.S. economy is working. She said the president’s focus is primarily on workers and families—and pointed to the president’s trip to the Middle East last week as well as the recently-announced United Kingdom trade deal and the talks with China that commenced earlier this month.
“We’ve seen the numbers grow 228,000 the first month, 177,000 the next month—we’re seeing it in the manufacturing sector and construction,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “We’ve even seen healthcare jobs go up. That plays right into the president, and what he’s done in terms of lowering drug prices. Everything he does is for the American worker and family as well. He sees the future. He’s got kids and grandkids. I have my first grandkid being born as well. You start to think about how can we not only level the playing field so that everybody can choose where they want to be in the workforce and grow this economy. He’s a master negotiator. I don’t think I have to tell anybody that anymore because I think we’ll see it on TV. We’ve seen it in the Middle East, we’ve seen it with the U.K., and we’ve seen every country and now I’m going to guess that China is going to be next and they’re going to want to have those talks as well. But leveling the playing field for not only American workers—it matters what he’s doing overseas. Oftentimes when you’re having these tariff talks, does that benefit the blue collar worker? Absolutely it does. It’s going to benefit the businesses who are on-shoring or re-investing $8 trillion. We see company after company coming in saying $50 billion, $100 billion—that means they’re investing here in America and they’re going to need the workforce behind it. So eventually, you’re going to see that everybody is going to be able to grow their own family economy, right there in their home, and a have a mortgage-paying job which is what most people strive for.”
Chavez-DeRemer also told Breitbart News she expects more nations to join the United Kingdom very soon in finalizing and announcing trade deals with the United States.
“It’s historic—what he’s done is historic,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “Everybody also was watching, and they should be watching, as he’s building these relationships with other countries and this capital. He’s had these relationships for a lot of years. The diplomacy he is exercising I think is key for the United States. But we were talking about specific trade deals, and expectations—well, if you’re built on what’s happened in the past and historical data, it worked in Trump 1 and he’s exercising it in Trump 2. We’re realizing it very quickly, so based on what I’m seeing, is my expectation that more deals will come to the table? Of course.”
More from Chavez-DeRemer’s exclusive interview with Breitbart News is forthcoming soon.
The post Exclusive — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer: Trump’s ‘Whole Career’ About Working Class Coalition, ‘Fruits of His Labor Now Paying Off’ appeared first on Breitbart.
