Obama Declares U.S. Auto Industry “All the Way Back”

President Barack Obama stopped in Detroit on Wednesday to tour the Detroit auto show. He is the first U.S. president to visit the show since Bill Clinton toured the event in 1999.

Obama toured the General Motors, Ford, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and ZF displays. He then headed to the United Auto Workers union headquarters, where he reminded an enthusiastic crowd of workers that Detroit’s unemployment is at a 12-year low, domestic vehicle production has doubled since 2009, and car sales in the U.S. have surged from a 27-year low in 2009 to a record high in 2015.

Obama underscored that his administration bailed out General Motors and Chrysler at a time when many thought neither company was worth saving. Today, he declared, “The American automobile industry is all the way back.”