GM Announces 7,000 US Jobs That Donald Trump Will Definitely Take Credit For
Photo: Gage Skidmore
Donald Trump ascended to the highest office in the land in part by engaging in explicitly nativist, populist demagoguery; something that should disturb all Americans. But he also got there in part by saying he was going to slap huge tariffs on companies that manufacture products overseas; something that is already disturbing all American automakers.
With the specter of a Trump presidency looming large, today General Motors announced that it will invest an additional $1 billion in US manufacturing operations to create or retain some 7,000 jobs for American workers. Though GM did not comment on whether or not this decision was influenced by the incoming administration, Trump will almost certainly take credit for the new jobs on Twitter, just as soon as he finishes attacking a Civil Rights hero and mistakenly quoting the wrong account when trying to tweet at his daughter Ivanka.
Earlier this month, President-elect Trump threatened (via Twitter, of course) to tax GM for importing the Chevy Cruze hatchback it builds in Mexico, even though most US Cruze sales are sedans built in Ohio.
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Most pointedly, the American automaker also announced it was working to insource axle production for its next-gen full-size pickup trucks from Mexico to Michigan, creating 450 jobs.
“As the US manufacturing base increases its competitiveness, we are able to further increase our investment, resulting in more jobs for America and better results for our owners,” said GM CEO Mary Barra. “The US is our home market and we are committed to growth that is good for our employees, dealers, and suppliers and supports our continued effort to drive shareholder value.”
In a press release touting its all-American bona fides, GM says it has created 25,000 jobs in the US over the last four years—approximately 19,000 in engineering, IT, and professional jobs; and 6,000 hourly manufacturing jobs—and added nearly $3 billion in annual wages and benefits to the United States economy during that time. Over the same period, GM says it reduced 15,000 positions outside the US, bringing most of the jobs to America.
“We will continue our commitment to driving a more efficient business,” said Barra, “as shown by our insourcing of more than 6,000 IT jobs that were formerly outside the U.S., streamlining our engineering operations from seven to three, with the core engineering center being in Warren, Michigan, and building on our momentum at GM Financial and in advanced technologies. These moves, and others, are expected to result in more than 5,000 new jobs in the US over the next few years.”
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GM adds that it has been facilitating its supplier base to follow its lead, creating supplier parks adjacent to its US manufacturing sites. Also, GM has confirmed that another supplier has committed to make components for GM’s next-gen pickups in Michigan, moving 100 supplier jobs from Mexico to the US.
This must be the “winning” that we’re all going to get tired of because we’re going to be doing so much of it.
I know I’m already pretty tired of it all…
1/17/2017 10:02 PM UPDATE:
Like, literally two minutes after I published this story…
Thank you to General Motors and Walmart for starting the big jobs push back into the U.S.!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2017
I guess he doesn’t explicitly take credit for the jobs in this tweet, instead thanking GM and Walmart in a way that merely implies the companies made their decisions as a result of Trump’s election. Perhaps this 70-year-old manchild is finally starting to do some of that “maturing” we all keep hoping for.
Patrick Grieve was born in Southwestern Ohio and has lived there all of his life, with the exception of a few years spent getting a Creative Writing degree in Southeastern Ohio. He loves to take road trips, sometimes to places as distant as Northeastern or even Northwestern Ohio. Patrick also enjoys old movies, shopping at thrift stores, going to ballgames, writing about those things, and watching Law & Order reruns. He just watches the original series, though, none of the spin-offs. And also only the ones they made before Jerry Orbach died. Season five was really the peak, in his opinion. See more articles by Patrick.