June 6, 2026 | Weekend Drive: UAW strikes again; trade proposals set tone for USMCA talks

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Welcome to this weekend Drive edition of Daily Drive for the first week of June 2026. I'm

the job at the supplier formerly known as American Axel. More trade and tariff developments ahead

of next month's USMCA review, and we got a look at May sales. Here to talk with me all about it

is Michael Martinez, who covers Ford in the UAW for us at Automotive News. Mike, how you doing,

buddy? Doing great. Kelly, how are you? Doing all right. And Hannah Lutz,

assistant managing editor here at Automotive News. Hannah, welcome back to weekend Drive.

Hi, Kyle. Thanks for having me. All right, so lots to get into this week. Let's start with

the labor story that's got the most writing on it for GM. Mike, the UAW walked off the job at the

Doubt Corporation this week, formerly American Axel, at a plant in Three Rivers, Michigan,

that makes axels for the Silverado and Sierra. UAW President Sean Fain made it plain, no contract,

no axels. How serious is this and what's the leverage play here for both sides?

It could be very serious, depending on how long this lasts, because all those axels,

most of them go into GM trucks, heavy duty and some light duty as well. And as we know,

those are the money makers, GMs, trying to catch Ford right now because Ford has some pickup issues,

so they're trying to take advantage and this will make it harder for them to do so.

But you talk about leverage and honestly, in situations like this, the leverage is almost

the same thing and it's staying out as long as possible. For the union, you want to break the

company and really get them to come to the bargaining table and give you what you're asking for

by holding out your labor. But for the company, you want to keep the workers out as long as

possible because they're not getting those regular paychecks. And traditionally, a lot of times,

contracts are up in the fall and the longer you stay out, the worse the weather gets,

morale starts to wear a bit, the longer you go on. So you get more leverage at the negotiating table.

Obviously, a different situation here as we get into summer actually might be kind of nice hanging

out on the picket line from a weather perspective. So I don't know that that incentive is there, but

once these workers go a couple of weeks without a regular paycheck, if they don't have savings,

it may start to hurt. So again, same thing, you want to stay out as long as possible.

None of that bodes well for GM. Now, Hannah, as a former GM reporter, how worried do you think

the folks at GM headquarters are considering this could threaten their money makers, the Silverado

and the Sierra? They're probably pretty worried. I mean, this is yet another disruption to

production and it could be another cost for them amid tariffs and all the other things the

industry has gone through over the past several months and years. But the supplier is trying to

keep going. They began stockpiling the axles at offsite warehouses back in January. That's what

our colleague Kurt Nagel reported. And they have about two weeks of inventory. So that puts them

in a good spot at least temporarily. And then this really jumped out at me that about 250

management level employees have been assigned to work 12 hour days to keep making these parts.

So clearly, they are thinking about their customer and trying to make sure these

pickups can be built for as long as possible until a contract is renegotiated. And the strike

could halt assembly of more than a thousand trucks a day at GM's flint assembly plant.

So I'm sure it's on everybody's minds and they're trying to come to a solution quickly.

Now, Mike, does this feel like the strike could get resolved quickly or is it a longer haul?

No, it doesn't. And I think it's at least going to last those two weeks or whatever

stockpile GM has because we know anything about Sean Fain. When he goes on strike,

he knows what it takes to hurt the company. Think back to when he struck the Detroit three.

He knew what the choke points were. He knew what plants would do the most damage the fastest

to get what his side wanted. And, you know, Kyle, I was thinking about this.

Under the perspective of could this be a sneak preview of what we might see with the Detroit

three in 2028? But more thought about it, the more I think this is sort of a throwback to that

2023 strike. Because you look at this, it's about getting better wages and health benefits

for these supplier workers. I think they're making 22 bucks an hour, which quite frankly,

you know, they might as well go to McDonald's make that much. I think they're asking for 30,

which would still be on the low end. And we know that Sean Fain held out for significantly higher

wage rate for the Detroit three. He's going to do the same thing here, I'm pretty sure.

So I think everybody should expect a pretty bitter and long fight.

Fain has sort of become like a strike strategist of sorts. He's, like you said, like always picking

at the really hot button topics, the things that will will hurt the automaker the most.

And don't forget he's up for reelection in a couple months this fall. So

going on strike, staying on strike, winning a good deal will help boost him politically. So

he has extra incentive to make this hurt. If he doesn't get reelected, Mike, could you see him

getting like a consulting gig? I'm sure he'll be fine either way. I there was talk, you know,

before the last election that if Biden won again, or if Kamala Harris won that he would

seek a job in the administration. So I don't know. He's very politically

active with the UAW. So maybe that would be the route he goes.

So Hannah, this week also brought another wrinkle in the trade picture. The Trump

administration is pushing for 82% North American content and USMCA with a 50% US specific floor

and Canada may not even have a seat at the negotiating table. Then on top of that,

a new tariff proposal came out with a carve out for autos, but not a complete one.

How are you making sense of all of this heading into the July 1st formal review?

Yeah, Kyle, there's a lot to unpack there, a lot going on with trade as usual. So the Trump

administration asked Mexico to raise the level of regional content in North American built vehicles

to 82% to qualify for the preferential trade deal. And they want 50% of that value produced in the

US. So reports suggested that the US would put that same requirement in front of Canada as a sort

of take it or leave it. And you know, although the formal negotiations start July 1st, there's a lot

of informal talks going out. So this is where this came out of an informal talk. And those

content rules would be a big change. The current rule is that 40% of passenger car content must be

made in plants that pay at least $16 an hour, which effectively eliminates Mexico. So that means

40% must come from the US and Canada. So we'd go from 40% made in some combination of the US and

Canada to 50% exclusively made in the US. So that would be a really big shift for Canada. And we'll

know more about all of this after the USMCA negotiations when they officially start July 1st.

Separately, the Trump administration announced new duties on 60 trading partners. So I'll start

with how the auto industry mostly sidesteps this development. And then I'll explain how some parts

are affected vehicles and many auto auto parts that fall under sectoral tariffs or the section 232

tariffs are exempt from this update. Steel, aluminum and copper are also exempt because they

fall under sectoral tariffs. And products that comply with the USMCA rules, which we just referenced

are also exempt. But imports of auto products not covered by the parts tariffs, that could be

electronics, interior materials, sub assemblies, those would be subject to the proposed duties

of 10% or 12.5%. And those could start in July. So it's a lot, a lot of details there and a lot of

different scenarios and situations depending on the vehicle and the part. But for the most part,

the auto industry is unaffected by this update. Yeah, that's a lot to unpack. Mike,

the affordability piece is striking to me. Now, our own John Irwin reported this week that more

than two thirds of sub $35,000 vehicles are built outside the US and international automakers built

nearly nine out of 10 affordable vehicles made domestically. If these content rules tighten,

where does this leave buyers at the lower end of the market? Well, you know, we were just talking

about the UAW. You want to know why all those sub $35,000 vehicles are built outside the US

because they don't have to pay their workers 40 bucks an hour and give them platinum healthcare

plans and all that overtime down there. There's different labor standards, different labor rules.

So that's why. But the upshot is if what the administration wants in terms of boosting

that American content goes into play, we may lose a lot of those sub $35,000 vehicles. And for

anybody who is a proponent of free trade, this is not a good start to this review period. Allegedly,

reportedly what's happening, what the administration wants. It just makes things a lot more complicated

and automakers forward building the Maverick would have to really reconsider. Is it worth it? Because

they'd have to boost the US content significantly, that would raise the price. Should we just bring

it here anyway? Or should we just jack up the price five or 10 grand? GM has a lot of their low

cost vehicles there too. So it's not a good start if you're a consumer looking to lower the price of

your monthly payment on a new vehicle in the future. And also that one point you mentioned that Canada

isn't really at the table in terms of this specific ask. That's not good either, because they're

sort of going to isolate Canada and the industry gets a lot of its parts from up there. So

not inspiring start to what could be a critical period right now.

And I think it's notable too that this report that John wrote about came from Auto's Drive America.

It was their research and they represent international automakers that sell in the US and that builds

in the US. So like Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen, etc. And they are coming out and saying to the

administration like please keep USMCA as it is for the benefit of everyone.

All right, coming up, we'll talk Mays sales and a Ford-Philson collaboration that had Mike

Itching to write a column about it. That's next on Weekend Drive.

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at b2b.kbb.com slash ICO. Welcome back to Weekend Drive. I'm

Kellan Walker with Michael Martinez and Hannah Lutz. So let's get into May sales.

The first monthly gain of 2026, but not exactly a barn burner. Global data's preliminary numbers

show light vehicle sales were just up 0.6% with fleet doing most of the heavy lifting.

Retail was barely up at all. Hannah, what's your read on where the market is right now?

Yeah, those aren't very strong results, even though it's a little bit of a lift.

Last year, there was some momentum as consumers tried to get ahead of the tariff price increases

potentially. And at the end of the EV tax credit, now we're seeing this big cooling really as the

price of everything climbs and people have to have to budget. Molly Boygon reported this week

that auto sales had a relatively minor impact considering the inflation hitting a three-year

high and overall consumer confidence declining. So for now, the auto industry could be kind of

cushioned because people need cars. But how long can this really last? I think that is what everybody

is waiting to find out in this industry. Mike, Ford was a drag down 14% on weaker truck and SUV

volume. What's going on there? Ford's relatively simple. They obviously got rid of the escape

crossover, which is a big volume driver at the end of last year. So that's hurting them.

Truck sales are down because of that continued fallout from the novellas fire last September

that we've talked about a lot. So sort of you expect, you know, the number that they put out.

Ford says if not for escape, they would have only been down 1%. So you're flat down slightly,

not too bad. But you know, I think it's interesting that story Molly wrote. I mean,

we had a 16.2 million SAR in May. That's really not that bad. As she wrote, there's a lot of

warning signs out there, but the industry doesn't seem to be affected by it as much. And you talk

about Ford. Ford says for all this talk of affordability concerns and rising prices, most of

their customers don't really care that much. They're still buying big trucks and SUVs, and they're

not affecting to smaller products, even though Ford's cutting those options. They still have some

smaller products. They're not moving there. They're still buying those well appointed F-150s and

expeditions and explorers. So as long as that holds out, the market's going to continue to do well.

Ford still says we could reach 16.5 million vehicle sales by the end of this year. That would be an

increase over last year. So the sky isn't falling according to them. And we're seeing that in the

numbers month after month. Yeah, maybe a small fluctuation here or there. But all things considered,

not that bad. Mike, as we mentioned, Ford had a tough May overall, but there is some Ford news

this week that is a bit more upbeat. Now, the 2027 Bronco Philson, a collaboration with an

outdoor clothing brand, starts in the mid $70,000 range. Raptor tuned V6, premium leather seats,

first ever ventilated front seats on a Bronco. Ford is clearly going after the Land Rover and

Mercedes G-Wagon class territory. What's the play here? Kelley, you're a Seattle boy at heart.

You have any Philson jackets in the closet? You know what's crazy? I actually do. I have one and

I haven't worn it in five years because I live in the dead of the desert now. This is not bad stuff.

It's good stuff. This vehicle looks pretty nice. Now, there's no actual Philson products inside

of it. A lot of it's Philson inspired, quote unquote. But this is Ford seeing an opportunity

in the off road market that they haven't tapped yet in the six years Bronco has been back. And

that's the premium side of the market. You referenced some of the players there. Now,

I don't know that this is going to get them there. Even the chief engineer told me he said,

well, we'll be in the same zip code, quote unquote, as a G-Wagon, for example. So again,

I don't know that there'll be a lot of cross shop, but they see there's opportunity to make more margin

on an insanely popular product that they've had for the past half decade plus. And this vehicle

seems to check a lot of boxes for the off roaders. Now, anybody who drives a Bronco or a Wrangler

Jeep for that matter, you know, they're loud. It's not really a pleasant driving experience.

You're doing it because you want to have that vehicle at the destination, at the trail.

They're trying to make the driving experience getting there better. They reduce noise by 20%.

I'm not really sure the metric that they started from, but they say it's a lot quieter.

That Raptor engine you mentioned, it's still going to give you the same acceleration and

power as a Raptor, but they basically detuned it to make it quieter. So a lot of nice leather

wrapped accents, it seems like it'll have a market for sure. And Ford just had that other

event with Carhartt, that was for the F-150, right? Super Duty. Yeah, these two collaborations that

are kind of similar. Yeah, I mean, every company wants to have authentic branding, marketing

experiences with partners where it makes sense. And they, for Ford, they say Carhartt,

a workwear brand based in Detroit, you know, makes sense with a Super Duty,

which is like the workhorse of his truck lineup. A lot of blue collar workers taking that on the

job. Filson and Bronco, a premium Bronco, Filson sort of a premium outdoor clothing jacket hat

experience. They make fly fishing bags when you're going out camping on the river.

So they like to think their Bronco customers would be inclined to purchase a Filson jacket.

Mike, you wrote a column about this specifically that there's a Lincoln angle here. What's that

all about? Yeah, I'm telling you, producer Jake might want to clip this for social media,

because I have a take. All right, let's hear it. No, seriously though, when was the last time we

talked about Lincoln, either on this show or just for those who are listening to this podcast in

general? When was the last time Lincoln was super relevant? It's been a while. Listen, I've been on

that journey with them. I've been covering this company for over a decade. In the mid 2010s,

they did sort of come back from the brink. They had really nice vehicles, excellent interiors. They

had this whole quiet flight DNA that they built the brand around. EVs sort of undercut them because

every EV is quiet, even if it's just a base mass market product. But anyway, they've kind of stagnated

since the pandemic. Yes, the new navigator is really nice. They lost the Corsair. They're down to

three products. So I think Lincoln needs a shot in the arm. They need a showstopper. Ford's saying

there's a lot of opportunity in the premium off road space. That's what this Bronco Filson is

supposed to do. I'm saying use it as a test run to do a true G wagon fighter, make it a Lincoln

brand four by four body on frame off roader. Let's do it. But when I think of Lincoln,

Cadillac, I think of luxury, right? So do you think that's a little outside of the scope for

Lincoln to go into the off road space? It would be, but that's the point. They need to do something.

They were celebrating a couple years ago that they finally surpassed 100,000 sales units.

It's small potatoes. They need, like I said, that jolt of adrenaline. It's not in their

wheelhouse today. That quiet flight, quiet luxury idea is still guiding their designers.

But you mentioned Cadillac, Lincoln. It's not just luxury, it's American luxury.

Maybe redefine what American luxury means. What outside of the luxury market, what does American

mean for vehicles? Large trucks, SUVs, again, the off-roading space is insanely popular. More

and more people are getting into it. Do a luxury off-roader. Now it's not going to be as capable

as a Bronco Raptor. Maybe it would just be for show, just like truck buyers don't do truck things.

I'm sure, you know, G wagon buyers aren't going off-roading constantly, but this could scratch

an itch that Ford seems to think is out there. And like I said, I think it would get a lot of

people talking, which is what Lincoln needs. Yeah, I see where you're going with it. I think

thinking about GM and comparison. GMC is not the level of luxury that Lincoln, I mean Cadillac

would be more of a comparison. But the GMC Sierra, I think is pretty, you know, premium or like a

luxury version of a full-size pickup. And, you know, they market that as it can be an off-roader.

Same with the Hummer. When I went on the Hummer Drive, there was an off-roading course that's

much more rugged than probably anything out of Lincoln might be. But it shows that these like

really expensive, high-class, like refined type of vehicles can do that potentially.

Now, I see the skepticism in Kell's eyes. I see that he's not buying it. Go ahead.

Because when I think of off-road Lincoln vehicle, I'm like, oh, we're making off-road vehicles now

for boomers. I remember, and producer Jake, correct me if I'm wrong, this might have been

four years ago, we had interviewed the lady that was head of the, I did interview with the lady,

she was the head of the marketing for Cadillac. And this is when they were gonna put the lyric out

and do that whole thing. And I specifically told her, I was like, you guys are trying to make me

not think of my grandfather when I think of a Cadillac. And she goes, no, she goes, you're

exactly right. She goes, we're trying to get this younger audience, their commercials were

for the lyric were very colorful, very like had EDM music and was trying to gain this younger

audience. Now, I feel like if Lincoln were to do something like this, that would be the route

they would have to take. Because when I think of Lincoln, and I think most people, when they think

of Lincoln, they think of old folks, you think of your grandparents, you think of your parents,

your aunts and uncles, right? Got two things for you. One, what if I told you the youngest buyer

for Lincoln, or the vehicle that attracts the youngest buyer is their biggest vehicle, it's

the navigator. So the young buyers are already interested in maybe something a little bigger,

maybe a larger SUV. But again, I just I don't think this is that farfetched, because what if I

told you this almost happened four years ago, there's a little reporting nugget for you. I

never did a story on this because needed to firm some things up. But according to people who were

in the room, Lincoln executives showed a group of dealers, a bunch of future product, some of it,

which has come to pass, including that new navigator. In the corner, there was a very clear

boxy SUV, it was under a silk, and they never removed that silk. And I the only thing I don't

know if they just meant it as a design exercise to say, Hey, here's what we're thinking about,

or if it really was a sneak preview, but it was very clear to the dealers who saw it what it was,

it was a Lincoln Bronco, Bronco Lincoln, whatever you want to call it, even if not a Bronco, at least

an a boxy off roader. Apparently, Lincoln do it didn't do it at the time, because the top brass

within the company didn't think it fit with the design ethos of Lincoln. But what I'm saying now,

Jim Farley has the no boring products mantra. Lincoln has a new president who told me back in

January, he wants to take the branding quote a more exciting and emotional direction.

I think this would fit. All right, Hannah, Mike, this was great. Thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you. Thanks, Joe. All right, that's all for this weekend drive edition of Daily Drive.

Thanks to automotive news executive producer Jake Nier for his help on today's podcast.

You can get the latest news on the UAW strike,

USMCA trade negotiations and everything happening in the auto industry at autonews.com.

We'd love to hear from you. Let us know what you think of the show and the topics we cover today.

Send us an email at dailydrive at autonews.com or leave us a voice mail at 313-444-2774.

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June 6, 2026 | Weekend Drive: UAW strikes again; trade proposals set tone for USMCA talks

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