Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump enthusiastically patted himself on the back Sunday, asserting on Twitter that, because of political pressure he applied, Ford Motor Co. has nixed expansion plans in Mexico.
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Four years ago, tax incentives backed by Kasich and other Ohio leaders, persuaded the automaker to bring truck production to Avon Lake, Ohio.
Trump praised Kasich when asked by ABC News whether the former governor was responsible for Ford’s move.
“Ford has not spoken with Mr. Trump, nor have we made any changes to our plans”, the company said in a statement.
Gov. John R. Kasich will join Ford Vice President of North American Manufacturing Jim Tetreault and Ohio Assembly Plant Manager Alex Maciag at a press conference today at 9:30 a.m.
Do you think I will get credit for keeping Ford in U.S. Who cares, my supporters know the truth. “Think what can be done as president!”
Trump then said he had specifically influenced Ford’s decision during a rally Monday morning in Atkinson, N.H.
But that was distinct from the $2.5-billion to be invested in Mexico for the new plants and the possibility of moving production of the Focus and C-Max, which remained a sore point for the labor union. “But Ford is now gonna build a massive plant in the United States, and every single person, even my harshest critics gave me credit for it”.
In March, GM announced that it would plow $350 million to produce the next generation of the popular Chevrolet Cruze into its plant in Coahuila, part of $5 billion targeted for south of the border in 2014. A spokeswoman for the company told The Washington Post that the company does not have any plants in Youngstown.
It appears that Trump may have been confused by a recent article from CNN Money reporting that production had begun in Ohio in August; again, as a result of the 2011 deal.
“Do you think Hillary [Clinton], Ben [Carson] or Jeb [Bush] could do this?”
Sunday night: Trump was quickly challenged on the accuracy of his Ford-is-abandoning-Mexico tweets, but he didn’t delete, correct or clarify anything he had written. “We are proud that Ford has invested $10.2 billion in our USA plants since 2011 and hired almost 25,000 USA employees”, a spokesman said.
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And as the faulty news story continued to circulate, Ohio Gov. Kasich-another Republican running for president-tried to take a victory lap of his own, tweeting that his state deserved credit. “Working as a TEAM, we brought Ford production jobs back from Mexico to Ohio years ago”, Kasich said in a statement.
