WASHINGTON – President Trump has angered Ohio Democrats by urging people not to buy tires from Akron-based Goodyear.
He claims that the Ohio-based manufacturer has banned “Blue Lives Matter,” “All Lives Matter” apparel and “Make America Great Again” hats. His tweet immediately sent the company’s stock downward.
Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES – They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tires for far less! (This is what the Radical Left Democrats do. Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!).
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2020
He also told reporters he will have the Goodyear tires on the presidential Limousine replaced.
In a letter to Trump, a trio of Akron-area lawmakers said the call for a boycott was “unwarranted” and “childish.”
“For a sitting president to call for a boycott that could potentially harm an iconic American company and its 3,000 Ohio workers is reprehensible during normal times, but especially during a pandemic where tens of thousands of Ohioans are unemployed and businesses all over the state are forced to close because President Trump refuses to lead during this national crisis,” Ohio House Minority Leader Emilia Strong Sykes (D-Akron) and representatives Tavia Galonski (D-Akron) and Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson) wrote in a joint statement.
Goodyear, which employs 62,000 people worldwide, responded to Trump with a tweet of its own, saying the company was the focus of a conversation that “created some misconceptions about our policies and our company.”
Goodyear says it simply ask its workers to “refrain from workplace expressions in support of political campaigning for any candidate or political party, as well as similar forms of advocacy that fall outside the scope of racial justice and equity issues.”