President Joe Biden is set to travel to Michigan on Tuesday to support auto workers on strike and join the picket line.
The White House said that Biden's visit to Wayne County, which encompasses Detroit, will mark the first time in modern history that a president has visited a picket line, underscoring his "vocal support for auto workers."
In a release Tuesday ahead of Biden's trip, the White House sought to highlight the president's commitment to supporting auto workers, including the U.S. economy adding 235,000 auto jobs since he took office, and strengthening labor unions.
"This is going to be a historic visit," said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at a briefing on Monday, adding: "He’s always been on the side of workers. He believes that there is an opportunity here, and he is encouraged and he is pleased by seeing both sides continue to have that conversation."
When United Auto Workers’ President Shawn Fain announced last week that the union would expand the week-old strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis to 38 parts distribution facilities, UAW extended its hand.
“We invite and encourage everyone who supports our cause to join us on the picket line, from our friends and families all the way up to the president of the United States,” Fain said.
Biden is heeding the call after issuing multiple statements since July in support of the striking workers and their right to collective bargaining.
Last Friday, when UAW first declared its strike against the Detroit Three over higher pay and improved benefits, the president said “auto companies have seen record profits including the last few years because of the extraordinary skill and sacrifices of the UAW workers, but those record profits have not been shared fairly.”
In his post Friday, on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, Biden reiterated what he has said multiple times during the UAW’s negotiations: “It’s time for a win-win agreement that keeps American auto manufacturing thriving with well-paid UAW jobs.”
Biden's visit comes one day ahead of a planned trip by former President Donald Trump, who plans to visit striking auto workers on Wednesday in lieu of attending the second GOP presidential debate in California.
Fain condemned Trump's plan.
“Every fiber of our union is being poured into fighting the billionaire class and an economy that enriches people like Donald Trump at the expense of the workers,” Fain said in a statement. “We can’t keep electing billionaires and millionaires that don’t have any understanding what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck and struggle to get by and expecting them to solve the problems of the working class."
UAW has yet to endorse a presidential candidate.
Trump's campaign blasted Biden's announcement as a "cheap photo op" in a statement, accusing the president of only traveling to Detroit Tuesday because Trump said he's visiting the day after, and alleging that he "is still hell-bent on destroying all of the auto jobs he’s purporting to care about" because of his electic vehicle proposals.