Trump hits out at union leader on Labor Day as he claims US is fixing 'worst trade deals ever made'

'The things that he's done to hurt workers outpace what he's done to help workers,' union boss Richard Trumka says of the president

Donald Trump has hit out at a top union boss over criticism of his trade policies and that the president has done more to "hurt workers" than help them.

Mr Trump's tweets - coming on Labor Day, the annual US holiday celebrating workers - said Richard Trumka had "represented his union poorly" as he claimed the American worker is doing "better than ever before".

Mr Trumka, president of the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO) an umbrella group for a number of unions, appeared on Fox News Sunday where he said “the things that [Mr Trump's] done to hurt workers outpace what he's done to help workers,” arguing that the president has not come through with an infrastructure programme to help create jobs and has overturned health and safety regulations that “will hurt us on the job.”

He added efforts to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) - a key trilateral trade agreement for the US - should include Canada. Mr Trumka said the economies of the United States, Canada and Mexico are “integrated” and “it's pretty hard to see how that would work without having Canada in the deal.”

The president said over the weekend that there was “no political necessity” to keep Canada in NAFTA, with the US and Mexico already having reached agreement on the basics of a trade deal. But it is unclear if the president can unilaterally exclude Canada from a deal, without the approval of Congress. Any such move would likely face lengthy legal and congressional challenges.

In his tweets on Monday, the president seemingly referenced NAFTA as he said, without offering any evidence, that "big progress" ws being made in "fixing some of the worst trade deals ever made". Trump administration negotiations to keep Canada in the reimagined trade bloc are to resume this week as Washington and Ottawa try to break a deadlock over issues such as Canada's dairy market and US efforts to shield drug companies from generic competition.

Mr Trump said that Mr Trumka's remarks "were so against the working men and women of this country... it is easy to see why unions are doing so poorly." The president also said: “Our country is doing better than ever before with unemployment setting record lows.”

However, the unemployment rate of 3.9 per cent is not at the best point ever — it is near the lowest in 18 years.

Asked about the low unemployment rate and economic growth on television over the weekend, Mr Trumka said: “Those are good, but wages have been down since the first of the year. Gas prices have been up since the first of the year. So, overall, workers aren't doing as well.”

The national average for petrol is $2.84 (£2.20) a gallon, according to the American Automobile Association. Prices were closer to $2.50 at the start of the year.

Associated Press contributed to this report