Trump says UAW talks don't matter because EV shift will kill jobs
By Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) -Former U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday it mattered little whether striking union autoworkers secured a favorable deal in talks with America's biggest carmakers because the shift to electric vehicles would soon make them obsolete.
Speaking in terms that contrast with the confidence shown by carmarkers spending aggressively to electrify their fleets, Trump predicted the U.S. auto industry would succumb to massive losses in just a few years.
«It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference what you get because in two years you're all going to be out of business,» Trump told several hundred blue-collar workers gathered at a non-union auto supplier outside Detroit.
Trump, who chose to skip the second Republican presidential debate on Wednesday night, has made attacking President Joe Biden's promotion of electric vehicle production through incentives a routine component of his stump speech.
At the debate, Trump was attacked by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as «missing in action», while former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie mocked him as «Donald Duck» for skipping the event.
On Tuesday, Biden joined a picket line to show solidarity with the United Auto Workers union, which began its walkouts on Sept. 15, its first simultaneous strikes at General Motors (NYSE:GM), Chrysler parent Stellantis (NYSE:STLA) and Ford (NYSE:F). Biden backed their call for a 40% pay raise and improved working conditions.
In response to Trump's speech, the Biden campaign called the former president a «billionaire charlatan» who didn't care about the working class but instead pursued pro-business policies that moved jobs overseas during his time in office.
«Donald Trump is lying about President
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