Former President Donald Trump criticized the president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) after the union endorsed President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential race.
He accused UAW President Shawn Fain of selling the U.S. automobile industry to China and supporting the electric vehicle (EV) push, which, according to President Trump, harmed American auto workers.
“I had the great privilege of watching Shawn Fain, the president of the United Auto Workers, this morning on DeFace the Nation,” President Trump said in a Jan. 29 Truth Social post, referring to Mr. Fain’s recent interview on CBS. “He is a real ‘STIFF’ who is selling the automobile industry right into the big, powerful, hands of China. 55 percent of the industry has already left the U.S., and the rest will soon be following if I am not elected president.”
The UAW formally endorsed President Biden for the 2024 elections last week.
“He bought into Biden’s ‘vision’ of all-electric vehicles, which require far fewer workers to make each car but, more importantly, are not wanted in large numbers by the consumer, and will ALL be made in China.”
President Trump said he wanted “every type of car” to be made in the United States and proposed requiring firms in China and other nations to build plants in America and hire American workers. This will be done via tariffs and other measures.
“Now they are building in Mexico, the biggest plants anywhere, and selling their cars, tariff-free, into the good ol’ USA. Shawn Fain doesn’t understand this or have a clue. Get rid of this dope & vote for DJT. I will bring the automobile industry back to our country.”
In his Jan. 28 interview, Mr. Fain said: “Joe Biden has a history of serving others, and serving the working class, and fighting for the working class, standing with the working class. Donald Trump has a history of serving himself and standing for the billionaire class.”
When asked about the former UAW president estimating that roughly 28 percent of their union members voted for President Trump in the 2016 elections, Mr. Fain said he thinks the numbers will be “less” this time.
However, in a recent interview with Fox News, the UAW president said that he does not expect most of their union members to vote Democrat this time.
“Let me be clear about this. A great majority of our members will not vote for President Biden. Yes, some will. But that’s the reality of this. The majority of our members are going to vote their paychecks,” he said.
Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), a current candidate for the U.S. Senate, commented on Mr. Fain’s Fox News interview in an X post.
Battleground State
UAW support can be crucial for a presidential candidate in the battleground state of Michigan, where the union is based. President Trump won the state in 2016 and went on to become POTUS. However, in 2020, he narrowly lost the state to President Biden.A poll commissioned by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV published earlier this month found that President Trump garnered 47 percent support from likely voters, which is an 8 percentage point lead over President Biden’s 39 percent support.
President Trump has largely focused on warning auto union members about the threat posed by President Biden’s EV push on their livelihoods.
Under the Biden administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) projects that by 2032, 67 percent of new light-duty passenger cars sold in the United States could be electric as a result of the agency’s clean car regulations.
The Department of Energy has announced plans to invest $12 billion in converting traditional auto manufacturing facilities into electric or hybrid facilities.
In a recent video statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation, President Trump said that once reelected for a second term, he “will repeal Joe Biden’s electric vehicle mandate,” and “do everything in my power to achieve a drastic reduction in the cost of a new car.”
While President Biden has also secured the support of other major unions like the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, some unions have still not announced their support. This includes the International Association of Fire Fighters, the American Postal Workers Union, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
The Teamsters said in a recent statement that the union leadership and members intend to hold a “roundtable discussion” with President Trump on Wednesday. President Biden has been invited for a separate discussion on the same day.
John Palmer, a Teamsters executive board member, told The Washington Post that past internal surveys have shown roughly half of its union members identify as Republicans.
In the 2020 election, Teamsters endorsed President Biden. The union boasts 1.3 million members across the United States.
