The CEO of one of the nation’s most powerful freight railroads met with President Donald Trump this week to make the case for an $85 billion merger that has drawn opposition from labor unions and energy companies.
One surprising result: Trump’s latest effort to wield his military power as commander in chief to root out local crime — this time, in Memphis, Tennessee.
It's the latest example of how executives with ties to Trump can spark big policy changes, even on unrelated topics, by bending Trump's ear.
Union Pacific Railroad confirmed Friday that its chief executive, Jim Vena, had mentioned the safety "of all Americans" during an Oval Office meeting Tuesday that was mainly aimed at winning approval for the company’s proposed merger with Norfolk Southern. Trump offered a sparse account of that conversation when announcing the Memphis deployment earlier Friday on “Fox & Friends.”
In his Fox News appearance, Trump said Union Pacific’s CEO — whom he did not name — had told him recently that crime in Memphis was so bad that the executive needed an "armored vehicle with bullet proof glass" just to go a block down the road.
"He said, ‘Sir, ... when I walk one block to my hotel, they won't allow me to do it, they put me in an armored vehicle with bullet-proof glass to take me one block,’” Trump recounted. “He said it is so terrible.”
Vena served until 2023 on the board of directors at FedEx, which is based in Memphis.
FedEx did not respond to a request for comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Union Pacific spokesperson Kristen South said in a statement that Vena and Trump’s meeting had "addressed the safety and security of all Americans, and that we regularly collaborate with communities to keep our employees and customers' cargo safe." (She did not confirm any details involving armored cars, or whether the two discussed crime in Memphis specifically.)
Vena went to the White House to persuade Trump about the merger. South said the merger would create "an American transcontinental railroad [that] is a win for U.S. competition, consumers, and the unionized workers," among other benefits. She added that the merger will "take more trucks off taxpayer funded highways."
A day after the Tuesday meeting, Vena told attendees at a Morgan Stanley conference in California that the White House was amenable to the merger.
“And listen, I was in Washington, D.C., yesterday, made a trip out there. I was here before. And at the end of the day, meeting with very senior people in the administration, and they get it,” Vena said.
“They understand the value of what we’re proposing," he added. "And they think it’s an absolute win for the country.”
Some unions, like the Transport Workers Union, oppose the merger, as does a trade group for energy shippers, the American Chemistry Council. The merger must be approved by the Surface Transportation Board.
American Chemistry Council CEO Chris Jahn said the group is in talks with the White House and Congress to “help them understand the detrimental impacts on the American economy a rail merger between UP and NS would cause by not enhancing rail-to-rail competition,” noting that further consolidation “threatens to drive up costs, reduce service and weaken supply chains that American manufacturers depend on.”
Chris Spear, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, said, "Our 8.5 million employees and 3.5 million qualified professional drivers are the hardest working, patriotic people in our country, serving 83 percent of our communities — where rail will never go. In short, there’s nothing without trucking.”
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