DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers union ruled out endorsing Republican Donald Trump Thursday and said it will soon announce its pick between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
Union President Dennis Williams said Trump has suggested moving auto production out of Michigan to lower-wage states as a way to stop factory jobs from going to Mexico. He says that won’t help the middle class.
The union executive board has decided on a candidate, but Williams wouldn’t reveal the endorsement Thursday.
He says Sanders has made trade agreements a campaign issue. But he doesn’t blame Clinton for approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement signed into law by her husband.
The union has opposed NAFTA, contending that it cost the U.S. good-paying manufacturing jobs by allowing companies to move factories south of the border.
At just over 400,000 members, the UAW’s endorsement is still important. But it’s not as big as it was in the 1970s.
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