DETROIT – President Joe Biden is expected to visit metro Detroit and Ford Motor Co. facilities next week ahead of the company's unveiling of the all-electric F-150 Lightning.
A source familiar with the plans but not authorized to speak publicly about them spoke to the Free Press on Tuesday morning. An announcement from the White House on the trip is possible later in the day.
Ford is set to reveal the new electric version of the company's best-selling truck on Wednesday, May 19, during a livestream event at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn. The event is expected to begin at 9:30 p.m.
Biden's visit is expected to occur earlier than that and is expected to include a tour of Ford's complex in River Rouge where the new truck will be built. Biden is likely to note that the electric F-150 will be built with UAW workers at the complex.
No other details were immediately available.
Biden has been a staunch and vocal ally of labor unions before and since becoming president in January. In recent months, he has called for additional government incentives to spur electric vehicle innovations and the infrastructure needed to make them widely popular while also saying those vehicles and that infrastructure needs to provide union jobs with good wages and benefits.
The UAW, meanwhile, has been urging Biden and Congress to adopt restrictions on incentives that would ensure that they are focused on vehicles built in the U.S.
The union recently called General Motors' decision to open a plant in Mexico where it would assembly electric vehicles "a slap in the face" and wants automakers to ensure that electric vehicle battery manufacturers — where much of the labor on the vehicles is done — provide union-level wages and benefits.
Biden's visit will be his second since taking office. In February, he visited the facility in west Michigan where Pfizer manufactures its COVID-19 vaccine.
