Before going on an election campaign in Mississippi, US President Trump told US media on Monday afternoon (local time) that he was not at all pleased with GM's plans. He asked Mary Barra, GM boss, to stop production in China and continue to do so in Lordstown, Ohio, where GM is currently building the Chevrolet Cruze. The small car Cruze is selling poorly and is therefore a victim of restructuring.
Trump has denied that US government tariffs on steel and aluminum imports have anything to do with General Motors' decisions. Instead, General Motors had to produce vehicles that would also find buyers in the market. And that's just not the case with models like Cruze, that's why GM has to think about something else. He was convinced that Mary Barra would soon find a good solution for Ohio, otherwise General Motors would face a very big problem, threatened the president.
The state of Ohio is one of the key states of the 2020 presidential election. Trump won there in 2016 with a margin of 8 percentage points. The loss of thousands of jobs in the automotive industry does not have the means to allow Trump to be a still relatively industrialized Member State with a view to possible re-election.
Seniors Ohios, Republican Rob Portman and Democrat Sherrod Brown also expressed their dissatisfaction with GM's decisions on Monday. Democrat Brown defended his seat in the November 6 mid-term elections relatively easily against a Republican and has since been considered a possible answer by Trump Democrats in the so-called rust belt.
Interestingly, in his first reaction, Trump did not mention the state of Michigan at all, although he was heavily affected by GM's mining plans. Trump also surprisingly narrowly won this state in 2016. However, in the mid-term elections, the pendulum was relegated to the background and the Democrats achieved significant success. It almost looks like Trump has abandoned Michigan again.
The UAW union is committed to challenging the decisions of General Motors. To this end, all available legal and contractual funds and the next round of collective bargaining will be used. It was unscrupulous for GM to reduce or shut down its operations in the United States, while increasing production in Mexico and China to serve US customers, the union's management said on Monday.
The UAW writes that GM is currently producing various models of cars, trucks and crossovers outside the United States for the US market. In Mexico, there are several versions of Chevrolet and GMC vans, in Poland it is the Buick Cascada and China's Buick Envision. Recently, GM also announced its intention to mount the new Chevy Blazer in Mexico and import it from there to the United States.
