Audi CEO faces backlash over Trump $4B US factory announcement
Audi's CEO, Gernot Dollner, is catching heat back home after joining Donald Trump at a Georgia campaign rally to announce a $4 billion Audi factory, the company's first in the US.
The move sparked backlash from IG Metall, Germany's powerful industrial union, which says Dollner crossed the line by getting involved in US politics so close to an election.
IG Metall says Dollner breached neutrality
IG Metall's head Christiane Benner didn't hold back, saying Dollner was in clear violation of Audi's political neutrality guidelines.
The planned factory would build 200,000 SUVs a year to help Audi grow in the US and recover from heavy tariff costs.
But before anything happens, Volkswagen's supervisory board, including German labor representatives, still has to sign off on the project as VW deals with job cuts and the costly transition to electric vehicles.