Long-shot Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie lumped Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) together with President Joe Biden on Tuesday regarding their similarities in “deciding corporate policies.”
Christie weighed in on the United Auto Workers union negotiations with three large automakers, claiming that one major problem people are seeing is the executive branch trying to dictate corporate policy.
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“Part of these problems are being because the Biden administration is deciding corporate policy,” Christie told CNBC. “Same thing that Gov. DeSantis’s administration in Florida is doing regarding Disney and other corporations. This push on electric vehicles, that demand that they do it this way, are causing all types of consternation inside the auto industry, and that affects the way they get to deal with their own labor and how they can pay them and what kind of profits they’re making.”
The former New Jersey governor said a president should make sure he or she has an understanding of both sides of issues and then put political pressure on both sides to reach an agreement.
Christie’s dig comes as UAW is working with three large automakers to avoid a strike. But the negotiations have been tense because UAW’s latest contract talks are complicated by a push to promote the electric vehicles that Biden is championing. Union leaders claim EVs, which use fewer parts than internal combustion engines, could lead to fewer manufacturing jobs for the Detroit-based union’s members.
The former governor drew a parallel between Biden’s interference in the UAW negotiations and DeSantis’s recent disputes with the Disney corporation. Disney sued the DeSantis administration earlier this year for ending the company’s power over the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a large area of land Disney had operated since 1967.
Disney claims the end to its reign over the district was in retaliation for their stance on Florida’s controversial law, dubbed by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which banned discussion on sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools before the third grade.
Christie also referred to DeSantis, who is one of Christie’s rivals for the Republican nomination for president in 2024, as a “big government Republican” and claimed not to be one himself.
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“I’m not a big government Republican like Gov. DeSantis is — who thinks that every time you disagree with a position that a corporation takes, you should take punitive action against them,” Christie said.
Biden has encouraged both sides of the UAW negotiations to strike a deal, and the union and “Big Three” automakers have until Sept. 14 to reach a deal before the workers go on strike.
