Photo: Alamy
After making a short stop at “Sneaker Con” in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon, President Donald Trump traveled to Waterford Township, Michigan, to speak to voters before the state’s February 27 presidential primary election.
Shortly after encouraging voters to cast their ballots early and highlighting the weaponization of the justice system, President Trump shifted to the auto industry.
He confidently told the crowd, “I have a very special promise. I will save the American Auto Industry from Joe Biden’s torture and destruction.” He blasted “Crooked Joe” for ordering “a hit job on Michigan manufacturing” by imposing “his insane Electric Vehicle Mandate.”
The 45th president warned that “One out of every two U.S. auto jobs will be ELMINATED” if the mandate took effect.
He told the crowd that voting for Biden would ensure that “tens of thousands of Michigan jobs” would be sent to China. He vowed that if voters cast their ballot for Trump, it would be a “vote to keep those manufacturing jobs in America, and right here in Michigan.”
President Trump continued his criticism of Biden’s mandate on electric vehicles, telling rallygoers that it was “a major factor in pushing the average price of a new car over $50,000.” He said that Biden’s attack on the auto industry was one of the reasons that his campaign “is going to win a historic share of rank-and-file Union Members this November.”
Trump recounted the weakened condition of American manufacturing when he took office in 2017 because of the policies of the Obama administration. He discussed his fulfilled campaign promise of withdrawing from NAFTA and his success in replacing it with the USMCA.
He told the crowd that he also “renegotiated Obama’s Korea trade deal,” which restored tariffs on foreign pickup trucks designed to protect the American auto industry. He noted that the renegotiation saved “Ford, GM, Dodge, and Chevrolet from obliteration.”
45 then discussed the 27.5 percent tariff his administration imposed on every Chinese automobile entering the United States. Noting that the tariff “remains in place TO THIS DAY,” he ended his riff with “Michigan, YOU’RE WELCOME.”