We are closing our live page coverage of President Biden's visit to the UAW's picket line in Michigan.

If you want to learn more, click here to read on the ground coverage from our business reporter Natalie Sherman.

Today's page was edited by Marianna Brady and Brandon Livesay with reporting from Chloe Kim.

In case you missed it, here's President Biden joining the picket line in Michigan.

Natalie Sherman
Reporting from Michigan

Tony Branner, 38, said he felt the strike was necessary to reclaim ground lost by the union during the 2008 financial crisis, including pay adjustments to reflect an increasing cost of living.

“It’s been hard ever since we gave that up,” he said.

Branner said he didn’t vote for either Trump or Biden in 2020 and welcomed support for the striking workers from whichever politician wanted to give it.

“I hope it helps,” he said. He said he had not been paying much attention to their political positions to date, but he expects to remember what the candidates do now during the strike when the 2024 election arrives.

“It’s about next year so let’s see what you’re going to do for us,” he said. “Whoever is fighting to help my job be better, I will support.”

Biden visited the picket line today and former president Trump will speak tomorrow in Michigan, instead of attending the second Republican debate.

Natalie Sherman
Reporting from Michigan

Lillian Dunson was one of the workers put on temporary layoff by Ford after the strike began.

The grandmother, who has worked for the company since 2021 and helps raise her three grandchildren, said she’s worried about how she will continue paying bills if the strike goes on.

“If I don’t work, I don’t eat,” she said. “I have no other income right now.”

But she said she wholeheartedly supports the strike, despite the immediate cost.

“I can’t afford not to,” she said. “If we don’t stand now, we’ll never get the things they promised to us.”

She said she welcomed President Biden's visit and support.

“I believe that he feels what we feel and that he’s not just a billionaire,” she said. “I hope I get to meet him.”

Of Trump, she said she felt his visit was “disingenuous”.

“I think he’s a great pretender,” she said.

We've just seen President Biden speak to striking UAW members in Michigan.

Here's what happened:

• Biden was invited by the UAW president to visit the picket line
• During Biden's brief visit he told workers they deserve a significant raise, adding that "unions built the middle class"
• Union president Shawn Fain spoke out against CEOs, saying workers make the world run
• The UAW declared a strike targeting Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, in a bid to put pressure on the carmakers to grant higher pay and make other improvements in new labour agreements
• Donald Trump will visit striking workers in Michigan tomorrow

Image source, Getty Images

Before heading out, Biden grabbed the microphone one last time.

"You've heard me say this before," the president started.

"Wall Street didn't build the country. The middle class built the country. Unions built the middle class."

While Biden stood with his arm around a striking worker, the president of the UAW Shawn Fain spoke of the "historic" moment of having a sitting president on the picket line.

Fain spoke out against the CEOs of the large auto companies, saying "they think they own the world, but we make it run".

His speech was meet with boisterous cheers from the crowd.

Image source, Reuters

President Biden told workers in Michigan that they have made "a lot of sacrifices".

He said he supports striking workers in getting a deserved, significant raise. The working class "should be doing well, too".

It is time for corporations to "step up" for UAW members, the president said.

President Joe Biden has arrived on the picket lines, holding a red megaphone and flanked by union workers.

He briefly addresses the crowd before shaking hands with workers and standing on the picket line.

Image source, Reuters

We're currently watching auto workers on a picket line in Wayne County, Michigan.

Earlier, we saw the president arrive in Michigan, escorted by his secret service in a multi-car caravan. He's heading to the picket line on what appears to be an overcast autumn day in Michigan.

Click play at the top of the page to watch.

Natalie Sherman
Reporting from Michigan

The work stoppage started on 15 September at three factories, which together employed about 12,700 workers.

A week later, the UAW expanded the walkout to 38 parts distribution centres at General Motors and Stellantis, asking roughly 5,600 more workers to participate in stoppages.

The UAW has $825m on hand to support workers participating in the strike, enough to last about two months with all members participating.

The decision to take targeted action is aimed at generating uncertainty for the car companies and at preserving that fund - and limiting the pain felt by workers, who are eligible for $500 a week from the union, less than typical wages.

The last time the UAW went on strike, against GM during 2019 negotiations, the walkout lasted six weeks.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says this will be a "historic" visit.

Speaking with reporters from aboard Air Force One, Jean-Pierre said: "While President Biden is no stranger to a picket line, in fact, he joined a UAW picket in Kansas City back in 2019, today will mark the first time that a sitting President has visited a picket line in modern times."

"This is an important message to America's auto workers and every hardworking American across the country," she added.

Biden "gladly accepted" the invitation from the Shawn Fain, the UAW president, she said.

Image source, Reuters

President Joe Biden has just landed in Michigan and was greeted at the airport by Shawn Fain, President of the United Auto Workers.

Biden will then be heading to speak with union workers on the picket lines.

Image source, Getty Images

Donald Trump is skipping the second Republican presidential debate in California on Wednesday to instead visit Detroit - the heart of US car and truck manufacturing.

"Crooked Joe Biden had no intention of going to visit the United Autoworkers, until I announced that I would be headed to Michigan to be with them [and] help them out," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

However, Biden was invited to visit the UAW members by the group's president, Shawn Fain, who has sometimes been critical of Trump.

Natalie Sherman
Reporting from Michigan

Image source, Getty Images

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union declared a strike targeting Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, in a bid to put pressure on the carmakers to grant higher pay and make other improvements in new labour agreements.

It comes at a time of broader labour unrest and casts a cloud of uncertainty over an industry that accounts for 3% of the national economy.

The two sides are negotiating over issues such as pay, days off and cost of living adjustments,as well as systems that pay newer and "temporary" hires less for comparable work.

UAW president Shawn Fain has cast the fight as part of a broader battle over economic justice and the billionaire class.

The UAW opened negotiations seeking a 40% pay rise over the four years of the contract.

The union has rebuffed claims that the figure is outlandish, noting double-digit jumps in the pay packages for company bosses, a surge in profits - and money the companies have spent buying their own shares - as well as decades of declining pay power in the industry, including in recent years, when prices surged.

The chief executives of all three companies had pay packages last year worth more than $20m.

The fight also comes as the industry is investing heavily in electric vehicles. The union is worried about that shift, since producing such cars requires fewer workers and currently involves non-union labour.

Natalie Sherman
Reporting from Michigan

Word of the Biden and Trump visits was met with groans and "a lot of eye rolls", according to Billy Rowe, 61, one of half a dozen workers huddled in the rain holding picket signs outside of a Ford factory near Detroit, receiving regular honks of support from cars and trucks zooming by.

Rowe, who has worked at Ford for 27 years, said he saw the dispute as one between workers and the companies.

"We would much rather neither of them showed up," he said. "We don't want to divide people and when you bring politics into it, it's going to cause an argument."

Another Ford employee, Frankie Worley, said that "politics shouldn't be involved" in the issue.

"They come down here and get a picture and say they support us, but really, do they?" said Worley, who has spent 28 years at the company, including 20 on the assembly line.

"This involvement is just to put their face against us and say they're helping us. Just stay away."

Brandon Livesay
Live reporter

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of US President Joe Biden as he joins members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union on the picket line in the state of Michigan.

It's a historic moment because no other sitting US president has ever joined a picket line.

Biden often touts himself as the most pro-union president in US history.

His visit with local car workers comes a day before Donald Trump also heads to swing state Michigan to speak with the auto workers. The state is a hotly contested battleground in the 2024 presidential election.

We will be live streaming Biden on the picket line at the top of this page, you can press the play button to watch.