CLINTON TWP., Mich. – Former President Donald Trump tried to woo blue-collar autoworkers Wednesday night time by criticizing electrical automobiles and warning of the unsubstantiated demise of the U.S. auto trade, as he requested 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 mentioned Wednesday night time throughout an auto worker-focused rally at a nonunion auto elements provider in suburban Detroit.

Trump, the front-runner amongst Republicans within the 2024 presidential race, many occasions inspired the UAW to endorse him throughout the roughly hour-long speech. He did so by mocking President Joe Biden and promising to save lots of the U.S. automotive trade from what he described as being worn out within the coming years resulting from present Democrat insurance policies, together with a push for EVs.

At one level, Trump mentioned he would not thoughts EVs, however he believes shoppers ought to be capable to select between such automobiles in addition to conventional gasoline and diesel fashions. He condemned Biden’s objective to have half of recent automobiles bought by 2030 be EVs in addition to the auto trade’s present dependency on China for batteries and different elements.

“If you want to buy an electric car, that’s absolutely fine. I’m all for it,” Trump mentioned. “But we should not be forcing consumers to buy electric vehicles they don’t want to buy.”

Trump’s go to occurred because the UAW continued focused strikes in opposition to General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis. The sides failed to achieve tentative agreements by an 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14 expiration of contracts for 146,000 UAW members with the Detroit automakers.

Currently, about 18,300 UAW members with the Detroit automakers are on strike, with the union warning of extra strikes with out substantial progress within the talks by Friday.

Trump talked about the placing union staff and negotiations a number of occasions throughout his speech, largely centered on how the negotiations will not matter if the auto trade will get worn out.

“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 mentioned.

A UAW spokesman declined to touch upon Trump’s remarks after the occasion, which the previous president attended as an alternative of the second GOP debate.

UAW President Shawn Fain closely criticized Trump and his go to to Michigan after showing with Biden on a UAW picket line Tuesday afternoon in suburban Detroit.

The outspoken union chief beforehand denounced Trump’s observe document with automotive unions and criticized the truth that Trump’s Wednesday go to can be at a nonunion firm referred to as Drake Enterprises.

“I find a pathetic irony that the former president is going to hold a rally for union members at a nonunion business,” Fain mentioned in an interview Tuesday night on CNN. “All you have to do is look at his track record — his track record speaks for itself.”

While the UAW has traditionally supported Democrats, together with Biden in 2020, Fain is withholding the union’s reendorsement of the president, who has touted himself because the “most pro-union president in American history, over concerns about EVs.

Fain, on the picket line with Biden at the Willow Run Redistribution Center, called the president joining the picket line a “historic second.” But he did not officially endorse the commander-in-chief for next year’s presidential election.

Fain has repeatedly said he believes another Trump presidency would be a “catastrophe,” but the former president has won the support of many rank-and-file union members.

Brian Pannebecker, a retiree who worked more than 30 years at Chrysler and Ford, is an avid Trump supporter. He said the UAW and autoworkers should support Trump because of his past trade policies and stance on EVs.

“Donald Trump wouldn’t be pushing this EV form of mandate on the businesses or on the shoppers,” he mentioned on the Wednesday rally.