Trump Wins: Ford Cancels the Construction of a New Plant in Mexico

Published on January 3, 2017 in News by Marc-André Gauthier

Donald Trump, who will become the 45th president of the United States on January 20th, seems to have won his bet of bringing manufacturing companies back to the U.S. Having criticised Ford for a while regarding its foreign assembly plants, notably those in Mexico, and threatening to slap the company with stiff import duties on its products assembled outside of the United States, Trump is likely celebrating some form of victory. Ford just announced the cancellation of their plans to build a new plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

This plant, which represented an investment of 1.6 billion dollars, was supposed to create 2800 local jobs. Instead, Ford has committed to investing 700 million in Michigan in order to upgrade its current installations for building electric and autonomous vehicles, creating 700 jobs.

Ford CEO Mark Fields told the media that the company made a business decision, but acknowledged that Mr. Trump’s influence did come into play, as he promised to impose a hefty import tax on Ford products assembled outside the country.

Mr. Fields added that if the United States wants to bring back more manufacturing companies, it will have to change certain fiscal policies, which Donald Trump promised he would do.

This announcement coincides with Trump’s assault on a new target, General Motors, who currently builds the compact Chevrolet Cruze in Mexico.

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