WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Whirlpool Corporation is facing criticism from workers at its Amana, Iowa plant over job cuts, even as the company continues to publicly support President Donald Trump's tariff policies.
The company is eliminating 341 jobs effective March 9 at the Amana plant, which produces refrigerators under the Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag and Amana brands. This follows 250 job cuts in July 2025, and union officials say more reductions are planned later this year. Staffing has dropped from nearly 3,000 employees a few years ago to around 1,300 today.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) says production lines have gradually been moved to a new Whirlpool facility opened in Mexico in August 2025, while the company continues to advocate for tariffs to protect domestic manufacturing.
Whirlpool disclosed that tariffs cost the company $300 million in 2025, and the conservative Heritage Foundation estimated that washing machine tariffs raised consumer costs by about $1.5 billion annually. The U.S. has reportedly lost 83,000 factory jobs since January 2025.
Union leaders argue the Iowa layoffs contradict the spirit of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the company's pro-tariff messaging.
IAM officials described the cuts as 'a deliberate pattern of corporate abandonment,' noting that Iowa has reduced unemployment benefits to 16 weeks, leaving laid-off workers with limited safety nets and no severance.
Whirlpool says the cuts are part of a multi-year modernization plan to transform the Amana facility, and that 80 percent of its U.S. sales are produced domestically, with around 20,000 U.S. employees, including 14,000 in manufacturing.
The company remains confident that current and new tariff measures will ultimately benefit U.S. manufacturers.
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