DETROIT, Sept 26, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - US President Joe Biden will join the
picket line with striking auto workers on a historic trip to Michigan
Tuesday, putting him on a collision course with likely 2024 election rival
Donald Trump who visits a day later.

Democrat Biden, 80, is believed to be the first sitting president to walk the
picket and says he wants to show solidarity with workers who have walked out
on Detroit's "Big Three" carmakers.

Republican Trump had previously announced a visit to Michigan on Wednesday,
and their dueling trips have ensured that a strike that already threatened
major economic disruption will now become a political battleground.

For Biden, battling increasingly dismal poll ratings and struggling to get
his message on the economy across to voters, the trip is a golden opportunity
to woo blue-collar workers.

"This is going to be a historic trip," White house Press Secretary Karine
Jean-Pierre told a briefing on Monday, adding that it would "underscore that
the president is the most the most pro-union president in history."

She insisted Biden's visit to the picket line in Wayne County, Michigan, was
"absolutely not" influenced by Trump's planned trip to the state the
following day.

- 'Cheap photo op' -

Trump, who looks set for a rematch with Biden in November next year, has
accused Biden of copying him by going to the frontline of the auto workers
strike.

Biden "saw that I was going to Michigan this week (Wednesday!), so the
Fascists in the White House just announced he would go there tomorrow," Trump
said in a post on social media.

Trump spokesman Jason Miller said Biden's visit was "nothing more than a
cheap photo op."

President Biden has said he is going to "stand in solidarity" with the United
Auto Workers (UAW) union as they get a "fair share" of profits from the car
firms -- Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.

But his visit is also fraught with political risk, as he must tread a fine
line between backing the workers and trying to end a strike that is costing
the economy billions of dollars.

At the same time, it would have been awkward for Biden to turn down the UAW's
invitation on Friday for him to come.

The White House's Jean-Pierre deflected a barrage of questions about whether
Biden was taking sides in the dispute, saying the president wanted a "win-
win" agreement.

"What we're saying is we're not going to get into this when it comes to
negotiation," she added.

- Union support -

Support for trade unions has been a hallmark of Biden's presidency, and the
UAW's endorsement in 2020 helped him flip the state from Trump in the last
election.

However, the Democrat is also the driving force behind government-funded
efforts to spark a historic shift in the automobile industry to more
environmentally friendly electric vehicles.

Trump has used Biden's green plans to batter his rival with accusations of
selling out American jobs to China.

"When he slowly walks to pretend he is a 'picket,' remember he wants to take
your jobs away and give them to China," Trump wrote on his social media site
Truth Social, in a message that was largely in capitals.

Trump's hopes of winning a second term in November 2024 largely rest on the
same blue collar votes that he won in 2016 in battleground states like
Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

He will speak on Wednesday in front of a plant that makes car parts in
Clinton Township, Michigan, his campaign said, some 40 miles (65 kilometers)
on the other side of Detroit from where Biden is speaking.

Democrats however have called into question the multi-millionaire property
tycoon's own commitment to the unions.