Vice-President Joe Biden visited the North American International Auto Show at Cobo Hall Wednesday morning.
Calling Detroit an “iconic city,” Biden praised the auto industry’s optimism five years after bailouts and GM/Chrysler bankruptcies.
“We and the American people placed a bet on all of you sitting in front of me,” he told the crowd in the Cobo atrium. “We placed a bet on American industry and we won.”
Biden called automotive and aircraft manufacturing integral to the American identity internationally for much the 20th century and today, he says, domestic automakers are again leading the way.
“American trucks and cars are competitive in every market in the world today,” he said before taking a shot at Japan’s protectionist trade policies: “We’ll be even more competitive in Japan if I have anything to do with it.”
Biden also praised autoworkers for accepting concessions as part of the industry's restructuring.
“Workers paid a real price. They accepted factory closures, benefit cuts, and pay cuts,” he said, adding that those concessions ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of what he called “middle-class jobs.”
The vice-president said the automotive comeback heralds a larger rebirth of domestic manufacturing because America’s higher education system, intellectual property protections, and entrepreneurial ethos are second to none.
“This is going to be the American century in manufacturing, mark my words."
Biden commended several new models on display at this year’s auto show including the new Ford F-150: “The really good news is the Rouge Plant has 4018 jobs because of it.”
He also credited the new Cadillac ATS for creating 500 news jobs in Lansing and praised the new Chrysler 200: “It had enough horsepower to bring back the entire Sterling Heights plant and 900 jobs.”
