US President Joe Biden will travel to Michigan this Tuesday to walk the picket line with members of the United Auto Workers union, a trip that comes after he faced political pressure to increase his public support for union members. .
“On Tuesday I will go to Michigan to join the picket line and stand in solidarity with the men and women of the UAW as they fight for a fair share of the value they helped create. It’s time for a win-win deal that keeps manufacturing manufacturing thriving. American cars with well-paying jobs in the UAW,” Biden said in a post on the social network X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Biden’s trip and historic presidential appearance at a picket line underscore the political opportunity as the strike against the country’s three largest automakers (General Motors, Ford and Stellantis) enters its second week, CNN has reported.
This will come a day before former President Donald Trump, currently the front-runner in the GOP presidential race, delivers a prime-time speech to an audience of current and former union members, including the UAW, in Detroit. Earlier in the week, Trump’s team confirmed that he would skip the second Republican primary debate for this speech.
The former president’s campaign has criticized Biden’s visit as a “cheap photo opportunity,” and Trump adviser Jason Miller has claimed that Biden will only go to Michigan because Trump had announced his own trip.