Pence echoes Trump, links UAW strikes to Biden EV push: ‘Good for Beijing, bad for Detroit’

Former Vice President Mike Pence argued Tuesday that the Biden administration’s push towards electric autos was to blame for the historic United Auto Workers strikes underway on the Big Three Detroit carmakers’ crops.

“I assure you that one of many issues that is driving that strike is that Bidenomics and their green-energy electric-vehicle agenda is sweet for Beijing and bad for Detroit, and American autoworkers realize it,” Pence mentioned on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

The strike is a “reflection of the failed financial insurance policies of the Biden administration,” mentioned Pence, whose marketing campaign to win the 2024 Republican presidential has struggled to acquire traction within the polls.

“This drive towards electrical autos, driving individuals away from gasoline-powered autos, any auto employee that is paying consideration would know that is not of their long-term curiosity,” he mentioned.

Pence’s stance on the strikes echoed the one pushed by his former boss, ex-President Donald Trump, the present frontrunner within the GOP nomination contest.

About 12,700 UAW members final week went on strike on the meeting crops of General Motors, Ford Motor, and Stellantis after the auto producers and the union failed to attain a deal on new labor contracts.

The union’s primary calls for are to acquire extra, and extra equitable, compensation.

The UAW on Monday mentioned it might announce further strikes towards the businesses if each side don’t make “critical progress” in negotiations by mid-day Friday.

Trump’s remarks in regards to the strike have largely been targeted on the rise of electrical automobiles, which he claims will hurt American auto employees.

“The electrical automobiles, routinely, are going to be made in China,” Trump mentioned in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday.

The Biden administration has taken steps to hasten the auto trade’s transition towards electrical autos as a part of its local weather agenda, intensifying a conflict over gas-versus-electric that was already a political wedge situation within the car-dependent U.S.

Trump has railed towards the UAW’s management, at the same time as he pushes the union to endorse him.

He is planning to counterprogram subsequent week’s GOP major debate by touring to Detroit to converse with present and former union members.

UAW President Shawn Fain attacked Trump after the previous president introduced that plan.

“Every fiber of our union is being poured into preventing the billionaire class and an financial system that enriches individuals like Donald Trump on the expense of employees,” Fain mentioned.

“We cannot preserve electing billionaires and millionaires that do not have any understanding what it’s like to reside paycheck to paycheck and wrestle to get by and anticipating them to clear up the issues of the working class,” he mentioned.

Fain’s union to date has withheld an endorsement of Biden, a longtime supporter of labor unions, due to considerations in regards to the transition to electrical autos.