The Axe Files, featuring David Axelrod, is a podcast distributed by CNN and produced at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. The author works for the podcast.

Chicago (CNN) The great threat to middle class jobs and wages today is not trade but automation, and the solution is not protectionism, says former Obama trade negotiator Michael Froman.

"Most economists will tell you that 80% or more of the effect on jobs is from technology, not from trade," Froman told David Axelrod on "The Axe Files," a podcast from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN.

"We need to have a much more holistic view in terms of both preparing people with the skills that they're going to need to succeed in a rapidly changing economy, and helping those who are adversely affected by change," he said. "We don't do a particularly good job of that."

But Froman, the former US Trade Representative, says that by withdrawing from trade agreements and threatening to impose tariffs, President Donald Trump is hurting the American workers he intends to protect.

During the presidential campaign, Trump said he would impose tariffs on imports from China and Mexico, as well as on American companies who move their operations overseas and then re-sell their products in the US.

Read More