Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an autoworker-focused campaign rally at auto supplier Drake Enterprises, on Sept. 27, 2023 in Clinton Township, Michigan.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Former President Donald Trump attempted to woo blue-collar autoworkers Wednesday night by criticizing electric vehicles and warning of the unsubstantiated demise of the U.S. auto industry, as he asked United Auto Workers members to encourage union leaders to endorse him.
“Tell your UAW leaders — no problems with them — but they have to endorse Trump,” he said Wednesday night during an auto worker-focused rally at a nonunion auto parts supplier in suburban Detroit.
Trump, the front-runner among Republicans in the 2024 presidential race, many times encouraged the UAW to endorse him during the roughly hourlong speech. He did so by mocking President Joe Biden and promising to save the U.S. automotive industry from what he described as being wiped out in the coming years due to current Democrat policies, including a push for EVs.
At one point, Trump said he doesn’t mind EVs, but he believes consumers should be able to choose between such vehicles as well as traditional gasoline and diesel models. He condemned Biden’s goal to have half of new vehicles sold by 2030 be EVs as well as the auto industry’s current dependency on China for batteries and other components.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an autoworker-focused campaign rally at auto supplier Drake Enterprises, on Sept. 27, 2023 in Clinton Township, Michigan.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
“If you want to buy an electric car, that’s absolutely fine. I’m all for it,” Trump said. “But we should not be forcing consumers to buy electric vehicles they don’t want to buy.”
Trump’s visit occurred as the UAW continued targeted strikes against General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis. The sides failed to reach tentative agreements by an 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14 expiration of contracts for 146,000 UAW…
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