OAN’s Daniel Baldwin
1:38 PM – Wednesday, September 13, 2023
Former President Donald Trump released a statement encouraging the United Auto Workers to demand that President Joe Biden walk back his electric vehicle mandate in any strike.
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“I strongly urge the UAW to make the complete and total repeal of Joe Biden’s insane Electric Vehicle mandate their top, non-negotiable demand in any strike,” Trump said in a statement. “If that disastrous Biden policy is allowed to stand, the U.S. auto industry will cease to exist, and all your jobs will be sent to China.”
UAW represents about 150,000 workers at U.S. car plants and could engage in a strike against three of the country’s largest automakers – Ford Motor, General Motor and Stellantis – if the union and the companies cannot reach new contracts. The 45th president asserted that Biden, who has been a vocally pro-union president, sold out the UAW in favor of his green agenda.
“Crooked Joe has sold you out to appease the environmental extremists in his party,” Trump said. “Do not surrender! Stand strong against Biden’s vicious attack on American Labor and American Autoworkers.”
The UAW is the only major union yet to endorse Biden for re-election. The union is seeking a 40% wage increase over four years. At the heart of the contract negotiations is Biden’s electric vehicles push. UAW President Shawn Fain claims this will cost the union jobs. The 45th president swore his economic plan would not do that.
“And if you want more jobs, higher wages, and soaring pensions, vote for President Trump and have your leaders endorse me,” Trump said. “If they don’t, drop out of the Union and start a new one that’s going to protect your interests right. I delivered for you before, and I will deliver for you again.”
The Biden Administration’s proposed Environmental Protection Agency standards for 2027-2032 call for 67% of new vehicles to be electric.
The last time the UAW went on strike in 2019 was against General Motors for about six weeks. The company said it cost them more than $3 billion.
“No president has ever fought harder for autoworkers than President Trump,” said Trump in a statement. “Time after time, I rescued the U.S. auto industry from certain destruction: withdrawing from TPP, overhauling the Korea deal to restore the protective tariff on pickup trucks, canceling Obama’s job-killing CAFE rules, and replacing NAFTA with the USMCA while insisting on unprecedented protections for American Labor, and American autoworkers in particular.”
The contract between the UAW and the three auto-giants is set to expire on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023.
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