Trump calls for Goodyear boycott after alleged employee MAGA hat ban

‘Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!’, president tweets

President Donald Trump has urged Americans not to purchase tyres from Goodyear Tyre & Rubber Company company after one of their plant’s allegedly banned the wearing Make America Great Again merchandise.

The president hit out at the manufacturer after a WIBW report claimed that a plant in Kansas had put out a policy banning workers from wearing MAGA attire, among other political clothing.

“Don’t buy GOODYEAR TYRES—They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS,” Mr Trump tweeted on Wednesday. “Get better tyres 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!),” he added.

The comments came after the NBC affiliate reported an image of a Powerpoint slide directing employees what was not acceptable as part of its “zero tolerance” policy.

The image, which surfaced on social media, was allegedly taken by an anonymous employee during the Topeka company’s diversity training.

The photo appeared to show that “Black Lives Matter” and “LGBT+ pride” are “acceptable” while “Blue Lives Matter”, “All Lives Matter”, “MAGA attire”, and “political affiliated slogans” were listed as “unacceptable”.

The individual alleged that the company’s policy was discriminatory, according to WIBW.

The company has since released a lengthy statement saying that the slide “was not created or distributed by Goodyear corporate nor was it part of a diversity training class”.

Goodyear maintained that it requests employees not to express support for political candidates or party’s in the workplace.

“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 equality issues,” they wrote.

The organisation added that it “has always wholeheartedly supported both equality and law enforcement and will continue to do so.”

“We have heard from some of you that believe Goodyear is anti-police after reacting to the visual,” the company said.

They added: “nothing could be further from the truth, and we have the upmost appreciation for the vital work police do on behalf of our shared communities. This can’t be said strongly enough.”

The company’s statement did not directly address the president’s tweet, which was broadcast to his 85 million followers and has been retweeted almost 70,000 times as of Wednesday.

Goodyear’s stock declined 3.4 per cent on Wednesday morning, following the president’s message, The Hill reported.

The company did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for further comment regarding the tweet.

When questioned on the president’s proposed boycott of a company in a ”battleground” state of Ohio ahead of the presidential election, White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway told reporters on Wednesday that she was not aware of the tweet.

She directed the reporter to ask the president about the incident himself at his next press briefing.

“I think he’s done plenty for companies in Ohio and elsewhere, far more than Joe Biden ever did,” she added.