President-elect Trump has thrown his weight behind dockworkers’ demands for automation protections, as he braces for a strike that could significantly disrupt the economy just days before he is set to take office.

President-elect Donald Trump gave dockworkers a boost in contract negotiations by seemingly endorsing their union’s demand to stop automation.

President-elect Donald Trump met with the leaders of the International Longshoremen’s Association on Thursday and voiced support for the dockworkers union that shut East and Gulf coast ports in October and may strike again in just over a month.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday appeared to back the anti-automation stance of some 45,000 union dockworkers on the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts, whose labor talks are at an impasse over that polarizing issue.

The vice president of a union representing thousands of dockworkers said Trump understands "the importance of the work our members do every single day."

Shipping lines and a dockworkers union that supplies labor at seaports from Maine to Texas, including Charleston, are trading shots as a strike deadline nears.