Tuesday morning, president-elect Donald Trump struck out at another major American company from his favorite bully pulpit, Twitter. Trump scolded General Motors, threatening to tax them for manufacturing its Chevy Cruze abroad.
While Americans everywhere want to keep U.S. jobs from going overseas, Trump’s accusation was wildly incorrect for one major reason: 100 percent of Chevy Cruze sedans sold in the U.S. are manufactured in Lordstown, Ohio. Immediately after Trump’s tweet, General Motors released a statement to correct the president-elect’s remarks:
“General Motors manufactures the Chevrolet Cruze sedan in Lordstown, Ohio. All Chevrolet Cruze sedans sold in the U.S. are built in GM’s assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio. GM builds the Chevrolet Cruze hatchback for global markets in Mexico, with a small number sold in the U.S.”
General Motors later contacted CNBC, telling the network it sold about 190,000 Cruzes in the U.S. in 2016. About 4,500 of those, or 2.4 percent, were hatchbacks made in Mexico. After Trump’s tweet, GM shares dropped in premarket trading but traded higher after the market opened.
Trump’s ill-informed tweet comes on the heels of Ford announcing it has canceled its plans to build a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico, and instead, will expand in Michigan. Ford’s CEO said the company will spend $700 million and add 700 jobs to transform and expand its Flat Rock, Michigan plant. “Make no mistake about it — Ford is a global automaker but our home is right here in the United States,” Fields said at a press conference. “This is a vote of confidence for President-elect Trump and some of the policies he may be pursuing.”
