President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday sided with union longshoremen in a standoff between port workers and their employers over the deployment of automation technology at the port.

After meeting with Harold Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), Trump said in a post on his Social media platform Truth Social that foreign terminal operators and ocean shipping companies at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports should abandon automation, Instead, they hired more dockworkers.

Trump wrote, "I have studied automation and know almost everything there is to know about it. The money saved [instead of hiring workers] is nowhere near the pain, injury and damage it causes to American workers, in this case our longshoremen."

The post echoed the position often expressed by the International Ports Association that port employers based outside the United States are making record profits in exchange for "privileged" access to the American market.

"I'd rather see these foreign companies spend their profits on good people on our docks than on expensive machines that need to be constantly replaced."

"In the end, they have nothing to gain and I hope they understand how important this issue is to me," Trump wrote.

"Employers should be hiring good American workers, not firing them, and repatriating profits abroad."

Trump seemed to suggest he would not intervene in the International Container Carriers Association strike, as President Joe Biden did earlier this year. The union went on strike for three days in early October, bringing the daily loading and unloading of containers worth billions of dollars to a standstill. Biden administration officials helped broker an end to the lockout, and both sides agreed to resume negotiations under an extension of the existing contract until Jan. 15.

But talks between the ILO and employers of the American Maritime Union, which represents 45,000 workers at 36 ports, broke down in early November after the union refused to allow semi-automatic container cranes into terminals, claiming it would lead to job losses. Another strike is likely in early January, and shippers have been loading imported cargoes ahead of the strike.

The Taft-Hartley Act gave the president the power to temporarily halt port strikes if they endangered national health or safety. The president can request a court order granting an 80-day cooling-off period while negotiations continue.

2002 President George W. Bush invoked the Taft-Hartley Act to end the West Coast longshoremen's strike.

Employers say automation is urgently needed to increase container traffic at the port, which in turn would create more jobs for union workers.

In a statement issued late Monday, U.S. Gulf Coast said: "We appreciate and value President-elect Trump's statements about the importance of America's ports. It is clear that President-elect Trump, U.S. Gulf Coast Companies and the International Terminal Association all share the same goal of protecting and growing good-paying American jobs at our ports. But this contract isn't just about our ports - it's about supporting American consumers and giving American businesses access to global markets - from farmers and manufacturers to small businesses to innovative startups looking for new markets to sell their products.

"To achieve this, we need proven, modern technologies to improve worker safety, increase port efficiency, increase port capacity and strengthen our supply chain." ILA members are paid more as they move more goods - the more capacity our ports have and the more goods they move, the more money they have in their pockets.

"We look forward to working with the president-elect and the new administration to explore how our members can work to support the strength and resilience of the U.S. supply chain and make critical investments to support ILA members and the millions of workers and businesses throughout the domestic supply chain, improve efficiency and create more good-paying jobs for ILA members."