President Joe Biden on Thursday celebrated agreements between the United Auto Workers and the Big Three carmakers, while also taking shots at former President Donald Trump, who has attacked Biden for promoting electric vehicles.
“When my predecessor was in office, six factories closed across the country. Tens of thousands of auto jobs were lost nationwide, and on top of that, he was willing to cede the future of electric vehicles to China,” Biden said, as he gave a speech in Belvidere, Ill., where Chrysler and Jeep parent Stellantis
STLA,
has agreed to reopen a plant.
Biden and Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, have been tangling over auto-industry issues for weeks. As UAW members were striking at Ford
F,
General Motors
GM,
and Stellantis facilities more than a month ago, Trump held a rally at a nonunionized auto-parts maker in Michigan, with his event coming a day after Biden joined UAW members on a picket line in that state.
At that rally in late September, Trump accused Biden of adopting EV policies that would put the U.S. auto industry out of business. The Democratic incumbent pushed back on that Thursday.
Trump argued that “if America invests in electric vehicles, it would drive down wages, it would destroy jobs, it would spell the end of the American automobile industry,” Biden said during his speech. “Well, like almost everything else he’s said, he’s wrong. You have proved him wrong. Instead of lower wages, you won record gains. Instead of fewer jobs, you won a commitment for thousands of more jobs.”
In the agreements with the Big Three, which are going through ratification steps, the UAW scored big wins, including pay raises of 25% over the life of a four-year contract plus cost-of-living adjustments, the end of several wage tiers and better retirement benefits.
“Here’s the difference,” Biden also said. “When you were in the middle of a fight, I stood, and others stood, with you shoulder to shoulder on that picket line. My predecessor went to a nonunion shop and attacked you.”
Biden was hit Sunday with a poll showing he trails Trump in five key battleground states in the 2024 White House race. But the president got good news on Tuesday, as Democrats scored victories in off-year elections in a range of states. One analyst said while the polls show the president isn’t popular, he “didn’t stop Democrats from winning.”
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