Donald Trump has said that American autoworkers will be "toast" unless the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, which announced an expansion of its ongoing strike on Friday, endorses him ahead of next year's presidential election.
The 2024 Republican frontrunner made the comments on his Truth Social website. It was in response to President Biden's announcement that he will join UAW workers on the picket line in Michigan on Tuesday in a show of solidarity.
On Friday, UAW President Shawn Fain announced another 5,600 of his union's members across 20 states will join the ongoing strike action, which began last week. Of the 'Big Three' U.S. auto manufacturers, Fain said just General Motors and Stellantis will be hit by the additional action, as talks with Ford had already made significant progress.
Writing on Truth Social, Trump said he had provoked Biden's picket-line announcement, and added that the president has abandoned auto workers by supporting electric vehicles.
Trump posted on Truth Social: "Crooked Joe Biden had no intention of going to visit the United Autoworkers, until I announced that I would be heading to Michigan to be with them, & help then out. Actually, Crooked Joe sold them down the river with his ridiculous all Electric Car Hoax. This wasn't Biden's idea, he can't put two sentences together. It was the idea of the Radical Left Fascists, Marxists, & Communists who control him and who, in so doing, are DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY!"
Trump added: "If the UAW 'leadership' doesn't ENDORSE me, and if I don't win the Election, the Autoworkers are 'toast,' with our great truckers to follow. Crooked Joe Biden is the most Corrupt and Incompetent President in the history of the USA. If he is able to gather the energy to show up, tell him to go to the Southern Border instead, & to leave the Car Industry alone!"
Newsweek has reached out to United Auto Workers by email for a response to Trump's comments.
Biden's picket-line visit is scheduled one day before Trump gives a speech to auto workers in Detroit, though it is unclear whether he will also visit a picket line.
The UWA is one of the few major unions that hasn't given Biden, who has described himself as "the most pro-union president in American history," a formal endorsement for 2024.
However, in an interview with CNN, Fain was damning of Trump and his claim to emphasize with auto workers. The union boss said: "Every fiber of our union is being poured into fighting the billionaire class and an economy that enriches people like Donald Trump at the expense of workers.
"We can't keep electing billionaires and millionaires that don't have any understanding what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck and struggle to get by and expecting them to solve the problems of the working class," Fain added.
Speaking last week, Biden urged auto manufacturers to make concessions to their workers, commenting: "I believe they should go further.
"Let's be clear, no one wants a strike. No one wants a strike. But I respect workers' rights to use their options under the collective bargaining system and I understand the workers' frustration," Biden added.
The UWA strike cost the American economy $1.6 billion in its first week alone, according to an analysis by economic consulting firm Anderson Economic Group.
Michigan, which backed Trump in 2016, then Biden in 2020, is expected to be a battleground state in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, with blue-collar workers a crucial voting bloc.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
James Bickerton is a Newsweek U.S. News reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is covering U.S. politics and world ... Read more
