Donald Trump pitches to Teamsters for backing

The Republican is hoping to leach away support for Democrat President Joe Biden among manual labourers.

Donald Trump at Teamsters headquarters in Washington. Picture: AFP

Former US president Donald Trump met leaders of one of the country’s largest unions on Wednesday as he seeks the backing of blue-collar America in his bid for a stunning White House return.

The sit-down with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Washington came with Mr Trump, a Republican, hoping to leach away support for Democrat President Joe Biden among manual labourers as the pair look set for a rematch in November’s election.

“A big part of the voting bloc votes for me – a very big part … nobody knows what the exact number is – but some people say more than 50 per cent of the Teamsters vote for me,” Mr Trump said after the meeting. “So we had a very productive meeting with a lot of Teamster representatives.”

Mr Biden — sometimes nicknamed “Union Joe” — was endorsed last week by the United Auto Workers and describes himself as the most pro-union US president ever. That backing earned the UAW president Shawn Fain an angry rebuke from Mr Trump, who called the union leader a “dope.”

Mr Trump is expected to be ­anointed as the party’s standard-bearer at its convention in July.

Victory in November though will require him to win back much of the support he hemorrhaged to Mr Biden in 2020 in the swing states of the Midwest – the working class heartland of the US.

Mr Trump is not expecting to receive the Teamsters’ endorsement, as the union went with Mr Biden in 2020. Teamsters president Sean O’Brien described the conversation as “pleasant” and “direct,” saying Mr Trump and a group of officials discussed workers’ rights, bankruptcy reform and other union priorities.

Mr O’Brien said Mr Biden had also committed to a meeting and his members had “more questions” of both candidates.

He said his Teamsters would typically reveal who they are backing after the summer party conventions but added that “the endorsement or non-endorsement may come sooner than later. We haven’t made a decision.”

AFP