United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby Signals Support For Trump Tariff Policy

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.