BALTIMORE — President Joe Biden made a visit Friday afternoon to Hagerstown where he delivered remarks about state of the United States economy and thanked local manufacturers.
The president spoke at the Volvo Group Powertrain Operations, and gave praise to their manufacturing team.
“I’m here at this mobile plant to thank workers and management for building heavy-duty engines, transmissions, axles for trucks and buses, and parts for electric car in the future,” Biden said.
Biden addressed “building the economy from the bottom up and middle out,” according to the White House.
Biden spoke for about 22 minutes.
His trip to Hagerstown followed similar economic visits to Ohio and New York, touting his recent signing on the Chips and Science Act, which spurs semiconductor production in the U.S.
Biden tried to draw contrasts between his economic plans and that of Congressional Republicans.
Biden said job growth will begin to slow from historic numbers coming out of the pandemic.
“Our job market continues to show resilience as we navigate through this economic transition,” Biden said. “For some time, I’ve been saying what we need to do. We need to move from a historically strong economic recover to a more steady, stable one. We need to bring inflation down without giving up the historic economic progress the working class and middle class people have made.”
An according to the president, the economy starts with those to manufacture products.
Biden’s speech came on “National Manufacturing Day,” which is Oct. 7.
The president told auto workers in Hagerstown that America can “own the 21st century,” and that it’s a matter of national security.
Biden said he’s focused on bringing manufacturing back and has spoken about the United States’ competition with China.
“Companies are investing in America and we’re all making sure government deliver,” Biden said.
His first words as he walked to the podium was, “Made in America.”
“We celebrate workers who are the backbone of our economy in tis country,” Biden said. “Where is it written that America can’t be the leader in manufacturing?”
Biden also said there is no bigger proponent of unions than him.
“I’m a union guy and I made it real clear,” Biden said. “The reason I am the most pro-union president in American history is because they are the single hardest workers around.”
While at the Volvo Group Powertrain Operations, he met with executives, toured the facility and met with employees.
“The Volvo Group is very pleased to host President Biden at our Volvo Group Powertrain Operations today on National Manufacturing Day,” said Martin Weissburg, chairman of Volvo Group North America and Mack Trucks president. “National Manufacturing Day recognizes modern manufacturing, and our Hagerstown site exemplifies that as it provides advanced transportation technologies to meet customer needs today and in the future.”
Over the past 10 years, the Volvo Group has invested nearly $320 million in the site.
The Hagerstown campus produces engines, transmissions, and axles for Mack Trucks, Volvo Trucks, Prevost motorcoaches and Volvo Buses sold in North America. It also recently began production of the Modular Power Boxes (MPB) that are at the heart of the Group’s new zero-emission battery-electric vehicles, the Volvo VNR Electric and Mack LR Electric models.
Biden’s visit comes as the Biden Administration prepares to relieve millions of student debts. According to a U.S. Treasury report released Tuesday, the nation’s gross national debt has exceeded $31 trillion.
The visit follows a major announcement Thursday from the White House that Biden would pardon all prior federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana and is calling for a review how marijuana is classified under federal law.
In August, Biden held a rally in Rockville, where he was joined by Maryland Democratic governor candidate Wes Moore.
This week’s Monmouth University poll shows more than 80 percent of Americans ranked inflation as a top issue, and just three in 10 said they approve of the president’s handling of it.
The president points to progress in lowering health care costs and the historic infrastructure bill.
“We’re making more progress,” Biden said. “We’re helping folks just a little bit more and giving folks a little more breathing room. We just need to keep going.”