Rarely do so many parts of a president’s political identity collide in one place. Friday’s walkout by the United Auto Workers is a real-time test of President Biden’s economic agenda: his call for higher wages for the middle class; his unapologetic pro-union stand; his climate-driven push to reimagine an electric vehicle future for car companies — centered in Michigan, a state that he must win in 2024 to remain in the Oval Office. The targeted strike by some members of the 150,000-member union is designed to disrupt one of America’s oldest industries at a time that Mr. Biden is sharpening the contrast between what rivals and allies call “Bidenomics” and a Republican plan that the president warns is a darker version of trickle-down economics that mostly benefits the rich. “Their plan — MAGAnomics — is more extreme than anything America has ever seen before,” Mr. Biden said on Thursday, just hours before the union voted to strike. At the White House, Mr. Biden’s aides believe the outcome of the battle between the car companies and its workers will underscore many of the president’s arguments about the need to reduce income inequality, the benefits of empowered employees, and the surge in profits for companies like the automakers that makes them able to afford higher salaries.

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Persons: Biden’s, Biden, “, ” Mr Organizations: United Auto Workers, Republican, White Locations: Michigan, America