Auto workers warned Trump to keep his distance: report

Sarah K. Burris
September 26, 2023 

Donald Trump speaking at the \Conservative Political Action Conference. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

The UAW warned Donald Trump that he shouldn't come to Michigan to speak to the members who are on strike. He ignored them and intended to host a rally anyway, the Washington Post reported Monday.

"Biden comes at the invitation of union leaders, the report began. "Trump came despite their warnings to keep his distance. Biden has touted a record as a 'pro union' president while at times struggling to maintain the support of rank-and-file members. Trump calls himself 'pro worker' while at times clashing with union leadership and implementing policies as president that worked against their interests. And while Biden is joining a picket line of union members, Trump’s remarks will be given at a non-union shop."

Trump attacked the union workers last week when he spoke with NBC's "Meet the Press."

“The auto workers will not have any jobs, Kristen, because all of these cars are going to be made in China. The electric cars, automatically, are going to be made in China,” Trump told Kristen Welker.

“They have two very different strategies, and they both really need the autoworkers in these states like Michigan,” Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University told The Washington Post in an interview. “Biden is taking this very unusual position for a president in saying the company has made enough profits and can afford to give the workers more, whereas Trump is attacking the unions and trying to create a specter of fear about the green transition.”

Trump also has an anti-union record both as a president and as a developer.

The former president believes electric cars are automatically made in China, ignoring that Joe Biden's infrastructure package and the Inflation Reduction Act required that for the $7,500 tax credit to be applicable the cars must meet requirements for U.S. assembly and materials.

According to Trump, workers should support him because "I will make you rich!"