Recovery operation. The social movement in the American automobile sector is taking a very political turn this week, with the visits of Joe Biden on Tuesday and Donald Trump on Wednesday to the bedside of the strikers. While a revenge seems to be the most likely scenario during the 2024 presidential election, Joe Biden is pushed on the defensive by his Republican opponent, who is taking advantage of the White House tenant’s very poor polls on the economy, and ‘a transition to all-electric far from being unanimous among trade unionists.
It was Donald Trump who fired the first scud at the Detroit auto show in mid-September, which opened with an unprecedented strike affecting workers from the “Big Three” (Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, owner of Chrysler ). The Republican called on members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union to “make the complete and total repeal of Joe Biden’s senseless electric vehicle mandate their primary, non-negotiable demand in any strike.” Without it, he predicted, “the American auto industry will cease to exist and all your jobs will be sent to China.”
Trump skips Republican TV debate
Joe Biden wants half of the cars sold in 2030 in the United States to be emission-free (electric or hydrogen) or low-emission (plug-in hybrids). “Scoundrel Joe sold you out to appease the environmental extremists in his party. Don’t surrender! “, urged Donald Trump on Truth Social.
Donald Trump, who positioned himself as a defender of workers during the 2016 presidential election by adopting a populist program, particularly on trade treaties, is taking advantage of the poor polls that are coming for Joe Biden. The popularity of the American president is at its lowest, in particular because a majority of Americans believe that the economy has deteriorated with a surge in the prices of food and gasoline.
Donald Trump therefore announced that he would not participate in the second televised debate of the Republican primary but that he would give a speech to strikers in Detroit.
Joe Biden tries to draw first
The Democratic president, who readily describes himself as the primary supporter of American unions, and who had also been invited to make such a gesture, finally announced that he would travel to Michigan on Tuesday on a strike picket, as a sign of “solidarity”.
“It’s time for a win-win deal” between automakers and the UAW union, Joe Biden said in a message on X (formerly Twitter). The 80-year-old Democrat has already, several times, publicly estimated that manufacturers should pass on their “record profits” to employees.
This is the first strike affecting all three groups at the same time. At this stage, the economic impact has been limited, but the extension of the movement at Stellantis and GM risks having greater repercussions, because these centers supply garages and dealers with spare parts for vehicles already sold, therefore directly affecting the general public. If the movement drags on, it could have an impact on suppliers and on the American economy… Which could risk penalizing Joe Biden a little more.