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00:00You guys, the UAW, you saved the automobile industry back in 2004, made a lot of sacrifices and gave up a lot and the companies were in trouble. But now they're doing incredibly well. And guess what? You should be doing incredibly well to. Bloomberg's Jordan Fabian joins me now in our D.C. studio for more. He, of course, covers the White House for us here at Bloomberg and Jordan. This is a Biden administration and a president who specifically has said he is the most pro-union president of all time. And now he becomes the first president of all of U.S. history to join workers at the picket line. How significant is this moment? He's really leaning into this. It's important for the UAW and it's also important for Joe Biden. Joe Biden, as you said, has campaigned on being the most pro-union president. Guess what? There's election coming up next year and those union workers are going to be crucial for his reelection chances in a key state like Michigan. And the UAW has yet to endorse Biden. So him showing up today. You heard Sean Faine speak very positively about the president saying he's standing up for working people. And so this could be a big thaw in the relations between the president and that union ahead of his reelection push or I guess Jordan going beyond that, what the president can do. People are going to be asking that question. You've explored it in your own reporting. And in terms of legal intervention, this is a different situation, for example, than what we saw in the in the rail industry. Yeah. Not to get too wonky, but the freight rails are governed by a separate law. Then the auto strike. So the president doesn't have a lot of leverage here. One thing he can do is use his bully pulpit like he did today. You know, go out to the picket line, say to the auto companies, you should pay these workers what they're asking and try and try to bring this to a conclusion. Look, the president obviously getting up there today, getting behind unions demands. But this is not a president who wants a prolonged strike. He understands the economic damage it can inflict, not just on the auto companies, but on the broader US economy and also on that key Midwest region. So even though he's there standing with the union today, this is a White House that wants to see this situation resolved. But this is also Jordan, the White House that wants to transition to a clean energy future. This is a president who has pushed very heavily the electric vehicle agenda. And you take what former President Trump, who, of course, will be in Detroit tomorrow, said on True Social. He said the only thing Biden could say today that would help the striking auto workers is to announce an immediate termination of his ridiculous EV mandate. This is a real conflict for him. It's a real conflict for Joe Biden. And of course, it's a little more complicated than Donald Trump often makes it out to be. The union isn't necessarily against the transition. What they want is a transition with union jobs, with high pay. That being said, the industry is facing a lot of competition from Chinese companies, from companies like Tesla, that don't have a unionized workforce. So the president does have a conundrum here. The harder he pushes on union demands, does that make the Big three the legacy automakers less competitive in that space? And this has been a real, you know, juggling act here for the president. And that's why, you know, Kim going out there today was significant, but because he needs those auto companies, too, to get what he wants in terms of clean energy.

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Biden Walks Picket Line With Striking Auto Workers

President Joe Biden joined striking UAW members on the picket line in Michigan where he said they deserve a 40% raise. Bloomberg's Jordan Fabian reports. (Source: Bloomberg)

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