GEOFF BENNETT: President Trump's Cabinet is now complete.

The U.S. Senate late yesterday confirmed President Trump's final Cabinet secretary in a broadly bipartisan vote.

Former Oregon Congresswoman and now Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer picked up support early on in the nomination process from labor groups, including one of the largest unions, the Teamsters, with its 1.3 million members.

We're joined now by Teamsters President Sean O'Brien to talk about that and more.

Welcome back to the "News Hour," sir.

So let's start with the confirmation of Lori Chavez-DeRemer as labor secretary.

You have said that the Teamsters were largely influential in President Trump's selection of her.

Why is she the right choice to serve as labor secretary right now?

SEAN O'BRIEN, General President, Teamsters: Well, she's definitely the right choice.

I mean, she's always been pro-worker.

She's a daughter of a retired Teamster.

And she was the right choice, and she was the only choice.

We lobbied President Trump right after the election very hard, saying that -- stating our case that he made a lot of promises and commitments, and he lived up to his commitment as far as making certain that working people, especially union people, were taken care of and that we have a seat at the table.

And as a result of Secretary DeRemer's confirmation, we certainly do have a seat at that table.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, beyond having a seat at the table, how can she effectively champion what you would see as pro-union policy in an administration that has taken anti-worker stances, as many people see it?

SEAN O'BRIEN: Right.

Well, I mean, look, she's going to have pressure from the administration.

But remember one thing.

We rallied labor after the election to support her confirmation.

I think it was the second most bipartisan confirmation.

So we do have credibility and influence.

And I believe, through conversations, through her leadership and consulting with unions like the Teamsters union and other labor unions, that we will not only be able to work with her, but we also hopefully will be able to work with the administration.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, taking a broader look at our politics, unions have backed the Democratic Party for decades with a steady stream of money.

Voters and volunteers this last election saw a realignment.

Trump's winning coalition included a lot of rank-and-file union members.

I know you're in constant touch with your membership.

What do they make of these first two months of the administration so far and the response from Democrats as well?

SEAN O'BRIEN: Well, it certainly hasn't been a subtle beginning, but the reality of it is, the Democrats, as I have stated in many platforms, forgot who they represented.

I think the Democrats were too focused on social issues, which are very important, but our members were more concerned about the economic issues.

And the Democrats seemed to wanted to tell people how they should vote.

And my membership is very active, they're very intelligent, and people don't like to be told what to do.

So the Democrats have a lot of work to regain the confidence of working people, especially our members.

But the Republicans also have some work to do because they made a lot of promises during this election.

They made promises that they wanted to be the party for the working-class people.

So we're going to have the ability to work and hopefully rebuild a Democratic Party that once represented the core values of working people, and also work in conjunction with Republicans.

And look, I think, by the vote of Secretary DeRemer and the cooperation, I think we had 17 Democrats that broke ranks that were told to vote no, no matter what, so that's a good sign.

That's a great sign.

And, look, our goal all along is to get both sides to collaborate on behalf of working people.

There's going to be issues that we don't agree on, but there's going to be a lot of issues that I think we can work collectively on to effectuate positive change on behalf of working people.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, one of those issues will certainly be tariffs.

The Teamsters is an international organization, as the name makes clear.

I know you have a Canadian branch as well.

But when you think about the domestic impact, how are you using your influence with the administration to mitigate the outcomes on the folks that you represent and those affected sectors?

SEAN O'BRIEN: Look, the tariffs are controversial.

There's no doubt about it.

But I think what's important, you can look at the good side of tariffs and the bad side.

I think what's important to us and to working people and the unions is to bring back manufacturing, bring back industries that were allowed to go to foreign countries, where we can actually put people to work, create a middle class and give people opportunities in industries that once thrived in the United States.

So that's a positive.

As far as the taxes in Canada, Mexico, or anywhere else, China, look, it's going to be a wait and see in what effect it has on the economy.

And I'm confident that, if it's, as negative as people are portraying it, people should get back to the table and figure out what's in the best interest of the American people.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, based on your experience, do tariffs represent the most effective strategy to reshore manufacturing to the U.S., which Donald Trump has said is a goal of his?

Is there evidence for that?

SEAN O'BRIEN: Well, I think, if tariffs are going to play a role where it's too expensive to import products from other countries, and it's going to be cheaper to manufacture them, but more importantly, create jobs that were lost as a result of bad trade agreements that were made in the early 90s, I think that would be a positive thing, creating jobs in America.

GEOFF BENNETT: Teamsters President Sean O'Brien, thanks for joining us.

SEAN O'BRIEN: Thank you.