Reuters-Trump says UAW talks dont matter because EV shift will kill jobs
September 28, 2023 4 min 725 words
这篇报道涉及前美国总统特朗普对电动汽车（EV）发展和工会谈判的看法。特朗普表示，工人们是否能在与美国最大汽车制造商的谈判中取得有利协议并不重要，因为电动汽车的兴起将很快使他们变得过时。他预测美国汽车行业将在短短几年内遭受巨大损失。特朗普还在演讲中批评了总统拜登推动电动汽车生产的政策，并将其描述为不利于工人阶级的。 这一观点引发了与汽车制造商对电动车发展持乐观态度的对比。特朗普的言论也引发了总统拜登竞选团队的回应，他们称特朗普是一个“亿万富翁骗子”，并指责他在任内将工作岗位外包到中国等地。 这篇报道突出了特朗普和拜登都在争取密歇根等争夺州的工人阶级选民支持的重要性，这些州对明年总统选举非常关键。特朗普在2016年赢得了密歇根，但在2020年输给了拜登，这一趋势也影响了宾夕法尼亚和威斯康星。特朗普试图利用工人阶级选民对经济不景气的不满情绪，这种不满情绪在COVID-19大流行和通货膨胀的背景下进一步加剧。 需要指出的是，目前没有证据表明美国汽车制造商正朝着特朗普所暗示的破产方向发展。受激励政策的推动，汽车制造商正投入数十亿美元在国内建立新工厂以满足电动汽车销售的需求，电动车在2023年上半年已占据了美国市场的8.9%份额，并持续增长。 特朗普承诺如果当选，将结束政府对电动汽车的推动，敦促美国汽车工人联合会支持他的总统竞选。然而，美国汽车工人联合会迄今尚未支持任何总统候选人，这使其成为唯一一个没有支持拜登的主要工会。美国汽车工人联合会领导层欢迎拜登的支持，但对特朗普及其在任内的表现持有尖锐批评态度。 总之，这篇报道突显了特朗普和拜登在工人阶级选民支持方面的竞争，以及电动汽车发展对美国汽车行业的影响。虽然特朗普发表了悲观的言论，但汽车制造商似乎正积极应对电动汽车的兴起。在明年的总统选举中，争夺密歇根等争夺州的工人阶级选民支持将继续成为焦点。
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, Chrysler parent Stellantis and Ford. 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 Biden's agenda to distract from his failed track record of trickle-down tax cuts, closed factories, and jobs outsourced to China," Biden's campaign said in a statement while Trump spoke.
The decision by both Trump and Biden to insert themselves into the historic auto strike highlights the importance both men place on securing support from working-class voters in Michigan and other battleground states in next year's presidential race.
Trump, who appears on track to clinch the Republican Party nomination and challenge Biden for the presidency, lost Michigan in 2020 by some 154,000 votes. It is one of three Rust Belt states, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, that Trump picked up in 2016 but lost in 2020, and the three will likely prove critical to both parties next year.
Jason Roe, a Republican strategist based in Michigan, said Trump was successfully tapping into angst among working class voters who feel they are falling behind economically, a trend exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation.
"That’s what he's exploiting. That’s what he exploited in 2016," Roe said.
U.S. automakers have complained that the Biden administration's rules promoting electric vehicles risk burdening them with excessive costs, but there is no evidence to suggest they are headed towards bankruptcy as Trump suggested.
Spurred on by incentives, automakers are sinking tens of billions of dollars into new domestic factories to meet demand for electrified vehicle sales, which captured 8.9% of the U.S. market during the first half of 2023 and continue to grow.
During Trump's 2017-2021 White House term, his administration generally sided with businesses over the interests of workers on policy matters, though some of his trade policies were aimed in part at protecting domestic manufacturing jobs.
The UAW has to date not backed either presidential candidate, making it the only major union not to endorse Biden. The UAW leadership has welcomed Biden's support, however, and spoken about Trump and his record in scathing terms.
Promising to end the government's EV push if elected, Trump urged the UAW to back him in the presidential race.
"I don't care what you get in the next two weeks or three weeks or five weeks," he said. "They're going to be closing up and they're going to be building those cars in China and other places. It's a hit job in Michigan and on Detroit."