Ford cancels Mexico plant. Will create 700 U.S. jobs in 'vote of confidence' in Trump
Source: CNN
Ford is canceling plans to build a new plant in Mexico. It will invest $700 million in Michigan instead, creating 700 new U.S. jobs.
Ford (F) CEO Mark Fields said the investment is a "vote of confidence" in the pro-business environment president-elect Donald Trump is creating. However, he stressed Ford did not do any sort of special deal with Trump.
"We didn't cut a deal with Trump. We did it for our business," Fields told CNN's Poppy Harlow in an exclusive interview Tuesday. He said Ford did speak with Trump and vice-president elect Mike Pence this morning.
Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/03/news/economy/ford-700-jobs-trump/index.html
With a CNN front page headline like this, it's going to be a long 4 years.
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)He saved 700 jobs.
no you are missing the point. The point is Fuckump scares these companies.. threats of huge tariffs, taxes and embargoes.
Lanius
(599 posts)All that talk of tariffs and tax and embargoes were just that - talk. These companies will expect big tax breaks and subsidies to stay, effectively being paid off by the Drumpf Administration (and ultimately the taxpayers).
bucolic_frolic
(42,668 posts)HelenWheels
(2,284 posts)I am on my fifth Toyota and love them. I have never had any trouble with any of them. When I want to get a new car I list my Toyota in the paper and it is sold the same day.
Used to buy Fords but my last one, a Mustang, was a real lemon.
NWCorona
(8,541 posts)I've had no problems with my Toyota or Mazda
ananda
(28,782 posts)I only buy Honda these days.
bucolic_frolic
(42,668 posts)Sure, maintenance is the key, but she's still going.
Putting new battery in a decades old vehicle is a vote of confidence!
scscholar
(2,902 posts)Seriously, they destroy lives.
NWCorona
(8,541 posts)TygrBright
(20,733 posts)But my grandfather who worked as a union pipefitter at a Ford assembly plant for most of his working life is probably rolling in his grave.
sadly,
Bright
Auntie Bush
(17,528 posts)Or a tune up except for inspection. I certainly take lousy care of my car...but it sure has been good to me...lack of funds make this stupid decision. Someday I'll regret it...hugely. However, I'll never get another brand.
geomon666
(7,512 posts)I'm sure once this headline dies down, we'll know the real reason.
Maybe they don't want to be the subject of one of Trump's tweets like GM. Its likely they were going to do this anyway and just want to appease the Tweeter-in-chief.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)It has to be something like that to male it cost effective to build in US instead of cheaper Mexico.
erpowers
(9,350 posts)I may be wrong, but like most Trump stories this seems to be mainly smoke and mirrors. The Ford Focus will still be made in Mexico. Instead of at a new plant, Ford will just make them in an already built Mexican plant. I assume the Mexican plant will be refurbished just like the Michigan plant. At first, Ford planned to invest $1.6 billion in building the new Mexican plant. Now they will not build that plant, but they are only bringing $700 million back to the states. What is going to be done with the other $900 million. I think that will be used on the Mexican plant.
So, we may have another Carrier situation on our hands. More jobs leave the United States than stay in the United States, but Trump gets good press off the story for at least a few days.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)most people do not read the details at the end. Believe the Focus is about to go to the Antique pile as per our last Ford Prospectus. BTW,the new plant was to be a Engine and Tranny plant. These can be built at a low Capacity Brazil Plant and a British plant and imported under the same Tax treatment as Mexico. The new facility in Michigan is on land that Qualifies for special development. Believe this is still owned by Ford and it would be classified as a clean up site. So why not,it's free Tax-Payer money.
doggie breath
(30 posts)was to be an assembly plant, not transmission or engine.
Ford was going to make 6 (6F15) and 8 (8F24) speed FWD transmissions at Irapuato but that has been scaled back.
Ford Chihuahua is being expanded for new engine programs.
Ford Taubate is being retooled for a new engine program but will still be LVL production.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)been trying to get info on this all day. When you go to Fords PR dept site,it takes them forever to respond. When this department was run by a Non Ford Family Member,you usually received a reply with in 24 hours. Thanks again.
doggie breath
(30 posts)Ford is in flux right now with the development of their new World Headquarters campus in Dearborn.
Many programs are being altered, shifted, downsized or terminated outright. Ford is requiring the $1.2+ billion project to be "revenue neutral" so saving close to 1 billion by using an existing facility rather than build new makes financial as well as environmental sense.
Ford will take a lot of shit from Mexico for backing out of San Luis Potosi Assembly. They don't need more of it from Democrats when it brings 700 new Union jobs and thousands of Tier1, 2 and 3 supplier jobs, many of those good paying Union jobs as well, along with it.
It has something to do with their bottom line.
jehop61
(1,735 posts)will come out of this. Please be happy for American workers, despite your hatred for dRump. Michigan really needs these jobs.
Wounded Bear
(58,440 posts)but we'll see. I'll be waiting to celebrate until I see the back story.
RonniePudding
(889 posts)We already have a president in office who saved those jobs, and his reward, from the people of the not so great state of Michigan, was to elect a racist troll.
I'll get over it eventually, but right now, Michigan can take a long walk off a short pier.
LyndaG
(683 posts)Disappointed in Michigan. The Rs wanted to kill the auto industry, and thought nothing of tainted drinking water, yet the state went Red. Ugh.
putitinD
(1,551 posts)didn't get their votes counted.
agincourt
(1,996 posts)Too often those facts are forgotten
christx30
(6,241 posts)are the ones that piss me off. You got someone great like Clinton, with someone as terrible as Trump, and going out to vote isn't worth 10 minutes of your time?!
The people that wanted to vote, but not allowed due to some BS laws meant to disenfranchise them are the ones that I feel sympathy for.
putitinD
(1,551 posts)I do agree. Yes Fuckump is horrendous, but I really WANT this country to be successful.
turbinetree
(24,632 posts)with a sexual serial predator, and the only reason to do this is because of the stocks and shareholders, because lets not forget what the sexual serial predator did with Lockheed, and Boeing, while he was sitting on the toilet tweeting.
And these corporations shipped jobs out of the state to other states and out of the country
ucrdem
(15,512 posts)Seen this movie before.
PRETZEL
(3,245 posts)First off, I would bet top dollar that Ford's Board of Directors approved of this long before the announcement.
Then to say that it's a vote of confidence in the incoming Trump Administration while at the same time making sure that his statement makes clear that they didn't make a deal with him, but is good for their business is purely hypocritical. This environment was created long ago and it has nothing to do with Trump.
Calista241
(5,584 posts)snpsmom
(638 posts)They'll be second-tier jobs with lower pay and fewer benefits. It's nothing but a pr move, and the big three do this all of the time.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)but Trump just got about 700 new votes come 2020. Those workers don't give a shit that tax incentives and other concessions are used to keep companies from going overseas, they care that they still have a job.
And with these CEOs openly giving Trump credit, Dems are going to have to start finding ways to answer uncomfortable questions like "Where was Obama when our jobs were on the chopping block?" in order to win those workers back.
BumRushDaShow
(127,300 posts)When Obama spearheaded bailing out the auto companies that people seem to forget about, Ford declined. But then Ford was not in as dire a shape as GM and Chrysler.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)Similar to Ronald Reagan c. January 20, 1981. Evidence is out there that he collaborated with the Mullahs to keep the hostages on ice until his inauguration. Despite that the vast majority of Americans still believe that St. Ronnie single-handedly freed the hostages after Carter's people bungled it.
I fear the claim that Trump brashly stood up to companies and saved jobs while Obama did nothing will also become a cherished American fable told and re-told through the years.
BumRushDaShow
(127,300 posts)that Obama's PR (OFA) used the Raygun-style "optics" throughout his two terms, which was partly why he was elected and then re-elected in the first place... something that Carter didn't have. However what this does do is emphasize the racially tinged atmosphere of Drumpf's campaign considering where we were in 2009 and where we are now in terms of the economy and their beloved stock market.
When you don't own the media, you don't get your message "heard", but history will be the judge as we get further away from this era. And Drumpf's smoke and mirror Wizard of Oz show will soon be exposed for what it is and he'll move on to something else.
Cha
(295,903 posts)BumRushDaShow
(127,300 posts)Source: Yahoo
Ford Motor Co. (F) plans to move production of its Focus subcompact from Michigan to Mexico in 2018. That was the plan that drew attacks from Donald Trump when he was campaigning for president last year. Its still Fords plan.
Ford earned some goodwill from Trump for a new initiative to invest $700 million in Michigan and create 700 new jobs there. Trump signaled his approval by tweeting a news story that said Trumps policies were to thank for the move. But production of the Focus is still moving to Mexico.
Ford announced several things at once, leaving the impression that its capitulating to Trump and ditching its operations in Mexico, where assembly-line workers earn about one-fifth what their US counterparts do. But thats not what Ford is doing. Well continue to do the right thing for our business, and the right thing for our customers, Ford CEO Mark Fields tells Yahoo Finance in the video above.
The right thing for a business is usually to minimize costs and maximize profits. The right thing for customers is to offer the best possible product at the lowest price. Mexicos low labor costs allow Ford to do that, which is why the automaker is determined to shift the production of its small cars, which usually have the lowest profit margins, south of the border.
Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ford-isnt-exactly-caving-to-trump-192945024.html
Somebody got the old fan out to start blowing away some of the smoke!
Cha
(295,903 posts)to trump if it's not true.
Thank you!
0rganism
(23,855 posts)the narrative is being created now:
Trump is revitalizing American manufacturing
when an economic source like manufacturing strengthens, all the associated goods & services get a boost too; whether or not this happens, it will be said to be happening
in 2 years this will be common wisdom unchallenged by the media or the general public
this is looking very much like an 8-year nightmare
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)Mark my words: Trump will mythologized into a 21st Century Gipper and Pence will ride his coattails into the White House for at least 1 term.
This is why I push so hard for Dems to stop focusing all their attention on congress and start doubling down on state races. If we don't win state houses and governorships to prevent gerrymandering it will take decades and massive demographic change before we regain full control of congress.
0rganism
(23,855 posts)and that price is re-establishing the economic safety nets, social gains and environmental protections of the 20th century after the Republicans tear them all down and link the lack of them to rising employment numbers
it will be much harder to do this time around
Blue_Roses
(12,894 posts)seem to have all the facts.
As Obama Takes Victory Lap Over Auto Industry Rescue, Here Are The Lessons Of The Bailout
David Kelley -- Contributor
If there is one city, and one state, where President Obama should feel welcome, its Detroit and Michigan. In his visit to the North American International Auto Show today, he took a victory lap touting his administrations bailout of General Motors and Chrysler
The decision to bail out General Motors and Chrysler, and aid their financing subsidiaries and suppliers through loan guarantees in 2009 in the teeth of the economic meltdown that gripped world markets, was hotly debated at the time and since. But given the 640,000 auto industry jobs created since then and the record sales by the industry in 2015, the President...
I think the president is well entitled to come to Detroit to celebrate the auto industry, because he made some very tough decisions that at the time were politically very unpopular, Steven Rattner, former car czar who advised the President on the bailout told mlive.com ahead of the Presidents visit.
Besides the job recovery in the auto industry, GM and Chrysler have paid back their obligations to the U.S. Treasury. Both companies, plus Ford Motor Co., which did not go through bankruptcy, are thriving todayhaving restructured healthcare and pension obligations and closed brands and factories they did not need. million light vehicles, and forecasts are that it will...
--snip--
There is a total of 7.25 million jobs impacted by the auto industry. Had the President not intervened, its not as if all those jobs would have vanished. But in the midst of a broad economic meltdown that extended overseas, $9.7 billion at the time seems cheap to insure peace of mind.
Today, GM, Ford and Chrysler are making profits hand over fist selling a bumper crop of pickup trucks (which they do far better than the Asian competition) and SUVs and crossovers. That is, in part, due to plummeting gas prices. When gas prices tank, U.S. car-buyers love to buy more pickups and SUVs. Thats not the fault of the car companies, for they also have excellent small cars and hybrids now as well. Its the free-market.
. But there are about 7.25 million people who are grateful for the stability that Obamas plan brought, and who are paying taxes and buying stuff to help the economy.
more...
https://www.google.com/amp/www.forbes.com/sites/davidkiley5/2016/01/20/obamas-takes-victory-lap-over-auto-industry-rescue/?client=ms-android-metropcs-us
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)Last edited Wed Jan 4, 2017, 03:25 AM - Edit history (1)
The same way Ronald Reagan gained his aura. Like it or not Trump has been brash about calling out companies while Obama refused to toot his own horn. Trump, like Reagan, has shameless self promotion down to an art. Guess which one will stand out in Joe Public's mind?
As has been said many times before it's 90% HOW you say it and only 10% WHAT you say. The same reason some folks will question the authenticity of a doctor who doesn't sound like the ones on Chicago Hope. Or they expect detectives to all be hardboiled, loud and violent like they are on police dramas when the reality is that, as is seen on shows like the First 48 many are quite soft spoken and conduct interrogations calmly.
Obama is the soft spoken, level headed detective while Trump is the brash, physical smash-you-into-the-wall-to-get-a-confession TV detective.
Guess which one draws bigger ratings?
Blue_Roses
(12,894 posts)President Obama has no problem with the "better ratings". His approval rating tops Trump's now and when he came into office. He was voted Time's Person of the Year for the 8th year. People like him because he is humble, smart, and kind. Trump is none of those and lost by 3 million votes. (Yes, I'm well aware of that prickly thing called the electoral college)
And as far as hospital and police tv shows, that's why it's called drama.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)It is drama but it's a perfect analogy for why Trump can say shit like how he grabs pussies and could shoot someone while and yet still rack up votes.
He provides entertainment. He's "real" to his supporters. He honestly doesn't give a fuck and speaks what is on his mind and to many Americans that kind of brashness is refreshing. This is why a billionaire power player can play the part of underdog outsider.
Another place where Dems need to adjust their game: Like Reagan before them, Trump and the GOP have mastered the art of the soundbite. Americans have short attention spans and since that is unlikely to change soon we need to work with it.
Freethinker65
(9,932 posts)Look. It worked here in the Midwest when Ford made a point if not taking TARP $. (They got plenty of government $$ from other government programs that few people ever heard about to help stay afloat...). This time they toss a bone to Trump for the same reason. Good PR and now Trump can tweet and tank the stocks of their competition. 700 jobs staying in the US is a good thing, and will help the local economy and suppliers to the industry. However, Ford did this for their own bottom line.
GeorgeGist
(25,294 posts)christx30
(6,241 posts)for altruistic reasons. You can appeal to their patriotism, sense of right all day and they'll never look beyond their bottom line. Hit them there, or threaten to hit them there, and they will fall in line.
I don't care why someone does something. If Ford is doing this because it protects them, I'm cool with it.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)I will make sure that all future cars are built by over seas labor.
I like Audi's. All are 4 wheel drive.
dionysus
(26,467 posts)Historic NY
(37,449 posts)Javaman
(62,439 posts)wait until AFTER the orange jerk is prezzz. Then you will see Ford quietly moving those jobs back to Mexico.
this is nothing more that pumped up bullshit.
erpowers
(9,350 posts)You have to read the full story. The truth emerges near the bottom of the article. The Ford Focus will still be made in Mexico. Instead of building a new plant, Ford will make the Focus at an already built factory.
Javaman
(62,439 posts)we now live in the error of the sideshow barker prezzz.
hexola
(4,835 posts)Isn't Dearborn the site of a big FORD plant - and one of the highest concentrations of Muslims in the US?
Been reading all the "hoo-rahh" over at FreeRepublic - just waiting for this little tidbit to dawn on them.
Jeroen
(1,061 posts)Could this be part of a strategy to make Trump seem successful?
That way it will be much easier to dismantle unions, social rights and to degregulate the industries.
This is a conspiracy to deceive the American public
Locrian
(4,522 posts)give a little. take a LOT
turnip has already shown his cards as being OWNED lock-stock-and-barrel by the powers to be. They are going to have a field day and all they have to do is puff him up a tiny bit.
TPP = yep
bust unions = yep
no regulations = yep
tax breaks = yep
hands off wallstreet = yep
hands off the rich = yep
GusFring
(756 posts)Auto plants are super expensive. They're planning on building an electric vehicle in this new plant, and that kind of technology is expensive.
In addition, 700 jobs at 40k / year is a payroll of $28M / year. I'm using the $40k figure, but that's probably a low figure. The average salary at the BMW plant in Greenville, SC is about $54k / year.
GusFring
(756 posts)NWCorona
(8,541 posts)Paladin
(28,202 posts)Elmergantry
(884 posts)hexola
(4,835 posts)Not sure what the big deal is here...seems more like a wait and see move by Ford...
Paladin
(28,202 posts)Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Can always build here in Detroit and ship.
Quixote1818
(28,903 posts)I doubt it's because of the "Business Friendly" environment.
joewicker_TX
(73 posts)Ford is banking on the Orange Menace stripping regulations and killing the unions to make it cheaper to build cars and easier to screw employees.....
hamsterjill
(15,214 posts)That was my thought, as well. Fords will be made without air bags. Cheaper, you know, etc.
Calista241
(5,584 posts)Trump doesn't need to bust unions for Ford.
doggie breath
(30 posts)is most likely wrong.
Ford has more US UAW workers than GM.
Ford builds a higher percentage of NA built vehicles in the US than GM.
Plans for something like this began long before the election and even before Der Trumpenfurher was a serious (using the term lightly) candidate.
It is always so nice to see so many of my Democratic brothers and sisters bash a company, a Union company, for doing the right thing and keeping US Union members employed.
Keep supporting the scab Honda, Toyota and Nissan companies. You know, those plants in the South where Hillary was so enthusiastically supported.
xor
(1,204 posts)bdamomma
(63,652 posts)by the bully?
Generator
(7,770 posts)Thank God you have a job-forget women's rights gays rights and that nuclear winter coming. All those Muslims being watched and expelled and Hispanics being taunted and harassed who cares! Swastikas everywhere-good times I got a job so it's all worth it!!!!! Fuck those people I got mine- Thank you Emperor Trump.
MichMan
(11,787 posts)0rganism
(23,855 posts)here we go
Trump will talk tough on tariffs, taking positions that should have been Democratic party platform planks 20 years ago.
at the same time, with the help of the Republican congress, he'll gut various workforce protections that made outsourcing appealing in the first place
but here's the important part: manufacturing jobs will actually stay/return because of it
sure, they'll suck worse than they used to, and there won't be powerful unions around to help out the workers, but they'll be jobs which don't require tertiary education.
let's be clear here: big name multinationals will move their manufacturing back to the US because the workforce is no longer protected relative to workers in other countries plus the tariffs would cause unacceptable profit loss, and there will be an uptick of manufacturing jobs in the rust belt as a result. these jobs will help drive local economies which have been suffering under NAFTA et al.
if Democrats are seen to stand against the tariffs and associated job returns, we will lose. and because Trump is very much operating as a "with me or against me" leader, mere silence is not going to work either.
Democrats have been tagged as proponents of stupid "free trade" deals, so we have to stand loudly for the tariffs and applaud any and all jobs that are perceived to have returned in consequence or we can just kiss the midwest goodbye and be the minority party for a generation or two.
the media is already crediting Trump with these job gains. this is probably not the battlefield on which we want to fight him.
snort
(2,334 posts)Lanius
(599 posts)It goes back to the old Republic "trickle-down" lie: that tax cuts and subsidies for the rich will create jobs and a booming economy. If that was the case then we never would have gotten into the mess we did after Saint Reagan's big handouts to the wealthy in the early '80s.
orangecrush
(19,236 posts)And the Ford workers probably know it.
And if they speak out, they get the treatment the Carrier union official got.
4lbs
(6,756 posts)owned it. I was in it for half those times.
They, and I, have never owned a Ford since.
jmowreader
(50,451 posts)Strategically? I'm VERY worried about what he might do to the country.
Problem 1: The current growth rate being attributed to Trump is WAY too fast. Think about cellular division rate in a person: the cells in your body have to divide if you want to stay alive, but if they divide uncontrollably fast you have cancer and could die. The same basic principle applies to the economy. If we could find Alan Greenspan he might call what Trump's doing a new round of irrational overexuberance.
Problem 2: Trump's revitalization schemes revolve around manufacturing big-ticket items and coal mining. Since he doesn't seem to care about any other industrial sector...uhh...who's going to buy all those cars and all that coal?
Problem 3: Industry doesn't offshore manufacturing because they hate the American Worker. They do it for two reasons: they like profits and they like to sell merchandise. If a new American-assembled car is sitting on the lot next to a less-expensive imported car that's just as nice, that "Your President says this is a great car and you should buy it because you're a bol'shoj musul'manka bl'yad if you don't" sign in front of it won't move a hell of a lot of units. (Which will cause the pizdkhapuga to go obez'yanagovno, but that's just an added bonus. Eb tvoyu mats, stukach.)
Problem 4: When America can no longer absorb all the cars Trump's Five Year Plan is cranking out because no one has money to buy them, massive layoffs will take place. At that point, Trump is unstable enough to do damn near anything. None of it will be pretty.
And the biggest problem: Eventually someone's going to call his bluff and Trump will learn the hardest truth here: unlike the way the Sixth Family does business, the US Government isn't allowed to extend and delay a plaintiff into financial ruin.