Tire change? Donald Trump's limousine stands and drives with special tires from the manufacturer Goodyear. The president has now called for a boycott against the company. The stock falls.
Photo: SAUL LOEB / AFPUS President Donald Trump has called for a boycott of the American tire manufacturer Goodyear because the company is disadvantaging its supporters. The company has banned headgear with its slogan "Make America Great Again", the president wrote on Twitter as a reason. He would also be in favor of replacing the Goodyear tires on his presidential sedan with products from another US manufacturer, Trump later said.
The trigger for Trump's actions were media reports that during a training session at a Goodyear plant in the state of Kansas clothing was declared to be "unacceptable" with the slogan. Trump had already backed the "MAGA" promise in the 2016 election campaign to bring America back to its former size.
According to a photo of a presentation slide with the Goodyear logo published on the Internet, symbols of the "Black Lives Matter" movement were allowed, denouncing police violence against blacks, as well as the "Pride" symbols for tolerance towards sexual minorities. On the other hand, statements in support of the counter-movements "Blue Lives Matter", which supports the police, and "All Lives Matter", which argues that racism against blacks should not be highlighted, were not permitted.
"Buy better tires for a lot less money!"
US President Donald Trump
"Buy better tires for a lot less money!" Tweeted Trump. On Twitter, photos then made the rounds on which the Goodyear lettering could be seen on the tires of his presidential limousine. According to earlier media reports, the tires of the vehicle with the top name "Beast" are a high-tech custom-made product that would not be so easy to replace.
The Goodyear share closed with a minus of a good 2 percent - after Trump's tweet it initially plunged steeply, but then largely recovered from it in the course of trading.
Goodyear is an American company based in the state of Ohio with more than 60,000 employees. Trump's promise also includes defending the interests of the local economy. First Trump's spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany (32) and then he himself justified the boycott call in the course of the day by banning symbols from "Blue Live Matters". Employees should be able to wear what they want, Trump said. In his original tweet, however, he only referred to the "MAGA" slogan, which mainly appears on baseball caps.
Goodyear shares fall after boycott call
Goodyear emphasized that employees are generally asked to refrain from expressing support for political parties or campaigns. On the other hand, working for equality and against racially motivated injustice is allowed. Goodyear supports both equality and the police.
At the same time, the company restricted the fact that the illustrated presentation slide with the company's logo was not material produced or distributed by group offices. "They did not deny that this picture was shown at any of their locations," McEnany stated after the company's statement and asked Goodyear for further clarification.
rei / dpa-afx