Shares of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. dropped 3.5% in trading Wednesday, after President Donald Trump urged people not to buy the tire maker’s tires. Trump’s remarks came after reports that the company is prohibiting workers from wearing apparel with political slogans, which would include “MAGA” hats.
President Trump told his 85 million Twitter followers on Wednesday, “Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES,”
At the time of the post Wednesday morning, shares for the Ohio-based company were around $9.60. The price fell to about $9.32 in the hours following the tweet, before gradually increasing and closing at $9.50.
Trump’s tweet was likely sparked by an image shared this week by an NBC affiliate in Topeka, Kan. on social media and said to show a slide of a Goodyear employee diversity training presentation outlining that “MAGA attire” is considered “unacceptable” in the workplace.
Attire supporting “Black Lives Matter” and “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender pride” was listed as acceptable.
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
In a tweeted statement, Goodyear said the slide was not “created or distributed” by Goodyear corporate and that an image of the diversity training class in Kansas had created “misconceptions” about its policies.
“To be clear… Goodyear has zero tolerance for any forms of harassment or discrimination. To enable a work environment free of those, we ask that associates 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,” the company said.
At a White House press briefing on Wednesday, President Trump said he is “not happy” with Goodyear. “What they are doing is playing politics,” Trump said. “And the funny thing is, the people that work for Goodyear, I can guarantee you I poll very well with all those great workers in Goodyear.”
The President insisted, “there is something very wrong at the top” at Goodyear. “What the radical left does is they make it impossible for people to do business if they’re Republican or if they’re conservative.”