At the Ford Center in Michigan, President Biden says electric cars are in the American future.
Today, President Joe Biden gave a speech about the United States auto industry at the Ford Rogue Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan. He discussed workers’ rights, America’s position in the automobile industry, and the future of American factories.
Biden toured the plant ahead of the new F-150 Ford Lightning vehicle, which is set to be released this week. He opened his remarks with “My name is Joe Biden and I am a car guy” before describing his relation to and love for cars and America’s automobile industry.
Biden discusses the future of electric cars and how the industry must grow its volume in order to catch up with the demand of the future. The President regarded the volume of manufacturing as “not enough” and is emphasizing the need for the American industry to speed up in order to catch up with their competitors, mainly China.
Longtime car fan (@POTUS that is), touring @Ford facility in Dearborn, MI and getting a sneak peak at the F-150 lightning pic.twitter.com/uDenut4VeV
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) May 18, 2021
China is “leading the race”
Biden highlighted China’s role in the automobile industry and how they are “leading the race.” He also states, “we used to invest more research and develop than any country in the world…and China was number nine. We are now number eight and China’s number one.” He urges the American people to invest more and support his proposals to help get the U.S. back to number one, such as adding almost 500,000 EV charging stations in the U.S. as proposed in his jobs bill to match the growing numbers and volumes of electric cars in the nation.
In addition, his jobs and infrastructure bill gives $174 billion to the American auto industry to support the growth of electric vehicles in the country. However, his goals result in some problems for factory workers, as the assembly and creation of electric vehicles require less labor and workers. The President made sure to address this and promised that “future jobs need to be well-paying union jobs with benefits, jobs that will sustain and grow the middle class.”
The President also thanked and recognized many members of the audience at the beginning of his speech, such as United Auto Workers Rory L. Gamble and Democratic Michigan Senator Rashida Tlaib for their contributions to the auto industry and workers’ rights movement of the United States.