United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain on Thursday said hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs were at stake if Republican former President Donald Trump won the Nov. 5 election and made good on his threat to repeal investments in electric vehicles.
Democrats have seized on Trump’s running mate, U.S. Senator JD Vance of Ohio, declining to commit to maintaining a $500 million investment to help GM (GM.N), opens new tab convert an existing Cadillac plant into an electric vehicle facility.
Fain, who has endorsed the Democratic nominee in the race, Vice President Kamala Harris, said removing the funds would put at risk some 650 jobs in Lansing, Michigan, and have a greater impact across the United States.
“It’s a lot bigger than just the Lansing Grand River investment. It’s factories all over the United States, and it’s supply chain factories all over the United States that are being put in place now. So you’re talking hundreds of thousands of jobs that Donald Trump is just writing off,” Fain told reporters ahead of Trump’s visit to Detroit later on Thursday.
Vance had drawn fire from the UAW last week for giving noncommittal answers on questions about the money allocated to GM for the electric vehicle plant.
Asked about it again on Tuesday, Vance said neither he nor Trump had ever said they would take “any money that’s going to Michigan auto workers out of the state of Michigan” and said the Biden administration’s push for EV investments threatened some 117,000 autoworker jobs.
UAW chief slams Trump over threat to repeal EV investments | Reuters