Biden hails ‘made in America’ future as he nabs endorsement from powerful autoworkers union

President Joe Biden touted his administration’s progress in promoting American-made automobiles and other manufactured goods that will be produced union labour as the future of US industry as he scored a coveted endorsement from the United Autoworkers Union on Wednesday.

Mr Biden, whose allies have billed him as the most pro-union of all American presidents, praised UAW members for having stood up for their right to share in their employers success during their recent strike as he spoke from the stage at the UAW’s annual meeting in Washington.

“You made sure the future of the world will be made in America,” he told the assembled autoworkers, adding that his administration has pushed for stricter enforcement of “buy American, hire American” requirements in federal contracting.

He also said the autoworkers’ success at forcing major automakers to negotiate better union contracts has spread to other, non-union manufacturers, and has created what he called a “UAW bump” in wages across the entire industry.

“Because of you, Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan, Tulsa, all gave their workers double digit raises. Because of you, workers across the country have seen the largest wage increases for workers building cars and trucks, and many other transportation equipment in nearly 30 years,” he said, adding that he believes labour unions produce “the best-skilled workers in the world”.

Mr Biden, who last year became the first US president to walk a picket line when he joined striking autoworkers outside a Michigan auto plant in September, said that if he were to be in a fight, he’d want to be in the fight with unionised autoworkers.

“We have a big fight in front of us… we’re fundamentally changing the economy in this country,” he said, before