WASHINGTON _ General Motors and the UAW said Tuesday that the Trump administration is playing no role that they know of in negotiations to settle a strike that began at midnight Sunday despite a media report to the contrary.
The Trump administration also denied the report posted by Politico on Tuesday afternoon, with Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere saying, "This story is false."
"The Trump administration, including (National Economic Council Director) Larry Kudlow and (trade adviser) Peter Navarro, are not involved in the negotiations between the UAW and GM," Deere said in a statement. "As President Trump has said, we would like to see a fair and speedy conclusion to these talks."
Politico, a publication and news site in the nation's capital, reported Tuesday afternoon that the White House had intervened in the negotiations to end a strike that involves about 46,000 workers nationwide.
Quoting two anonymous sources said to be "close to the matter," the Politico report said the White House was interested in a deal that would reopen an idled plant in Lordstown, Ohio, and that Kudlow and Navarro were involved.
GM, however, quickly quashed the report as untrue, issuing a statement saying that, at this point, "the White House has no involvement in negotiations."
UAW Spokesman Brian Rothenberg, meanwhile, said the union had no comment "because it's the first we've heard of it."
For months, Trump has urged both GM to take some sort of action that would put people back to work in Lordstown and has railed against steps the company has taken to idle some facilities. This week, however, Trump has made only a few measured public statements about the strike, saying he hopes it is over quickly.
