Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit an automotive supplier of engine and transmission parts outside Detroit on Wednesday, the day after President Joe Biden is set to visit a UAW picket line, also near the city.
Trump’s camp confirmed Saturday that he will “deliver remarks” at Drake Enterprises Inc. in Clinton Township, Mich., at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Heather Dombrowski, co-owner of the company started by her grandfather in 1952, said Drake Enterprises was chosen to host the former president because of its entrepreneurial spirit and its exposure to the gasoline engine business. Trump has made the auto industry’s electric shift — and the risk of jobs lost to it — a major part of his campaign platform for reelection.
“Politics aside, this is a huge opportunity for us,” Dombrowski said. “We’re hoping that this will open doors to new customers and expand product lines with current customers.”
She said the company was put on the Trump team’s radar by a mutual contact, Matt Szubielski, managing partner at staffing agency Redline Resources in nearby Utica, Mich.
The company’s 125 or so employees are not represented by a union, she said. A few parts numbers have been affected by the UAW strike against the Detroit 3, and inventories are low, Dombrowski said. The company’s main concern, however, is filling 30 open jobs, a problem that started in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset. The hope is that Trump’s visit spurs interest from prospective employees.
It is not clear how many people will attend, but Clinton Township Supervisor Bob Cannon said he was told the event is invitation-only.
“We will have a strong police presence,” Cannon said. “We want to make sure that people can flow freely and that everyone is safe.”
Biden and Trump, both running for a second term as president, will arrive to a community on edge. The UAW strike, which began Sept. 15, cost the economy roughly $1.6 billion in its first week, before the union expanded the action to include 38 parts distribution centers across the nation — 13 of them in Michigan.
Drake Enterprises is primarily a Tier 2 and Tier 3 supplier, but it also supplies some parts directly to automakers, Dombrowski said. It has two manufacturing plants spanning more than 150,000 square feet, according to its website.
The company supplies machined parts for engines and transmissions, and its customers include the Detroit 3, Eaton, GKN Automotive, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Freightliner, Peterbilt, Kenworth and Nexteer Automotive. It does not have any business for electric vehicles, Dombrowski said.
Per its product portfolio, Drake fits the bill of automotive suppliers most at risk in the transition to EVs. Home to thousands of such companies tied to internal combustion engines, Michigan in general and Drake’s home of Macomb County in particular are significantly exposed to the decline of gasoline power in automotive.
“If EV really accelerated and took off, we would be out of business,” Dombrowski said. “We would have to lay a lot of people off.”
On Saturday, Trump took to social media site Truth Social to blast the “ridiculous all Electric Car Hoax” and said Biden only made plans to visit picketing auto workers after Trump announced his trip to Michigan.
Biden, who calls himself the most pro-union president in history, will defend his green energy agenda, which includes pushing EV efforts.
— Automotive News Reporter Michael Martinez contributed to this report.