Donald Trump Takes Credit for Ford Plant in Ohio, Rest of World; “Nope”
Whether or not you think Donald Trump would make a good President of the United States isn’t actually relevant to this article, but rather his taking credit for things he didn’t do. If you remember earlier this year, we were on hand when the first U.S.-built Ford F-650 and F-750 models rolled off the assembly line in Cleveland. Around that time, Trump was hammering Ford about their investment in Mexico and said, as President, he’d tax the crap out of Ford until they made their vehicles here. Well, now that the Cleveland plant is producing the big trucks here, Trump wants to take credit.
John Kasich, governor of Ohio, summed it up nicely; “Nope.”
Trump believes that his pressure is the reason why Ford is building those trucks in the United States, even though the decision to bring production to the Ohio Assembly Plant was made back in 2011. At that time, Trump was still hosting a show with C-list celebrities on NBC.
But apparently Mr. Trump believes everything he reads on the Internet, so he bought this story hook, line, and sinker, then took credit for it publicly on Twitter.
Anyone with half a brain would know that it takes a bit longer than a couple of months to decide, and then move, production of anything from anywhere in the world to anywhere else, but the story still has gained traction. This morning, Ford PR issued a statement to the following, just to set the record completely straight;
Ford has not spoken with Mr. Trump, nor have we made any changes to our plans. We decided to move the F-650 and F-750 medium-duty trucks to Ohio Assembly in 2011, long before any candidates announced their intention to run for U.S. president. We are proud that Ford has invested $10.2 billion in our U.S. plants since 2011 and hired nearly 25,000 U.S. employees. Overall, more than 80 percent of our North American investment annually is in the U.S., and 97 percent of our North American engineering is conducted in the U.S.
We said basically the same thing after we talked to Ford back when they started production in Cleveland. Of course, there will be people out there that won’t believe this and assume that the fact checking that was done by The Washington Post, Automotive News, and even us is just an attempt to discredit Mr. Trump’s candidacy. When it comes to this issue, Trump had nothing to do with it. Nothing. Not a single iota.
Ohio is an important state when it comes to electing presidents, and taking credit away from the efforts of the state’s government, local officials, members of the UAW and more who were involved is not a good way to win their support and their votes.
Also, it should be noted, that the story in The Washington Post also points out that the $2.5 billion investment in a plant in Mexico is still going forward. That was the original issue that got Trump all in a tizzy.
What do you all think? Let us know in the forums! Also, keep it civil or your comments will be deleted.
via [Automotive News, The Washington Post]
