Trump: UAW workers ‘being sold down the river’

Former President Trump went after the United Auto Workers leadership in an interview released Friday, saying workers are being misled by their representation. He refused to take a side on contract negotiations which have devolved into a strike.

“I’m on the side of making our country great… The auto workers are being sold down the river by their leadership, and their leadership should endorse Trump,” Trump said in an NBC News interview held before UAW workers began their strike.

UAW began a strike against the “Big Three” automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — Friday morning, a first in the union’s history. The union is demanding increased wages, shorter work weeks and better retirement benefits.

Trump said federal policies encouraging electric vehicles hurt the workers. The UAW has not endorsed a candidate for the 2024 election, citing hesitation over electric vehicle policies, but has stated it will not endorse Trump.

“The auto workers are not going to have any jobs, when you come right down to it,” Trump said. “Electric cars are going to be made in China.”

Trump said UAW President Shawn Fain is “not doing a good job at representing his union.” Fain said he will not support Trump, and that a second Trump term would be a “disaster.”

Biden administration changes include tax credits for electric vehicles and a proposed rule that two-thirds of all produced vehicles be electric by 2032.

The Biden campaign attacked Trump over similar comments blaming electric vehicle policies on Friday.

“Donald Trump will say literally anything to distract from his long record of breaking promises and failing America’s workers,” campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said. “Under Trump, autoworkers shuttered their doors and sent American jobs overseas. Under Trump, auto companies would have likely gone bankrupt, devastating the industry and upending millions of lives.”

Trump has used the electric vehicle attacks before in efforts to court Detroit auto workers to vote for him.

“President Biden is the most pro-union president in history, leading a renewed manufacturing boom, bringing hundreds of thousands of good-paying, union jobs back home. That’s because President Biden sees the world from assembly plant floors and kitchen tables, not penthouses on Park Avenue,” Moussa continued.