Detroit | Seeking more of the voters who first paved his way to the White House in 2016, former US president Donald Trump rallied at a Michigan car parts factory on Wednesday night (Thursday AEST), setting up a clash of messages aimed at blue-collar workers one day after President Joe Biden appeared on a picket line with United Automobile Workers.

Mr Biden affirmed his support on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) for UAW strikers’ demands for a 40 per cent pay raise, while Mr Trump has given no indication that he backs the union’s position. In his appearance at a non-union factory on Wednesday, Mr Trump was seeking to drive a wedge between rank-and-file workers and their leaders and to attack Mr Biden by suggesting that his support for electric vehicles would cost American car workers their jobs.