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President Trump took office to reprimand the Detroit automakers for shutting down factories and sending jobs overseas. With another election on the horizon, he renewed the attack.
Trump consulted Monday on Twitter to ask General Motors to reopen a car factory in Ohio, a state that could play a crucial role in its re-election campaign in 2020.
The president also criticized the United Auto Workers union and touted US investments by Toyota and other foreign auto companies.
G. said in November that its plant in Lordstown, Ohio, would remain unused as part of wider cuts that would eliminate a total of 14,000 jobs, and shut down production two weeks ago.
Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter that he wanted the Ohio plant to be "opened or sold to a company that will open it quickly!" He also urged G.M to close a plant in China or Mexico instead of idling Lordstown.
The president also called the company and the United States of America. begin talks to reopen Lordstown rather than wait until the fall, when both parties are expected to negotiate a new contract of employment. G.M. and the union has however engaged in discussions since last year about Lordstown and other factories designated for the closure.
"We are focusing on our affected members and we continue to continue to do everything in our power to retain the position of G.M. open factories," said the union in a statement.
In its November announcement, GM also said it was idling at a car plant in Detroit and factories in Warren, Michigan and Baltimore, which produce electric motors and transmissions. This action will eliminate 2,800 factory jobs. Thousands of white-collar jobs are also being removed as part of a cost-cutting campaign.
G.M. recently announced that the Detroit plant will remain operational until January, seven months longer than originally planned.
Of the 1,200 workers in Lordstown, 450 have found new jobs with other employees. according to data published by G.M., and about 350 others were eligible for retirement. The company has 2,700 openings at the time, most in the Midwest, said a spokesman for the company.
President's messages are the last of the latest on Twitter that promote the state of the economy as the presidential election season approaches. GM's plant closures run counter to his claims that he would create manufacturing jobs in Ohio and other states.
On Monday, Trump said Toyota is increasing its investment in US operations. Last week, The Japanese automaker announced it would invest $ 13 billion in the United States over a five-year period ending in 2021, up from $ 10 billion originally planned, and create an additional 600 jobs.
A GM spokesman said his company had invested $ 1 billion in its domestic operations since the 2016 elections and $ 22 billion since 2009. Part of its investment has been devoted to the development of electric and autonomous cars. It has 98,000 employees in the United States.
The Lordstown factory has been a victim of a rapid change in consumption, with Americans having abandoned small cars and sedans to rush on SUVs and other large vehicles. The Ohio plant manufactured the Chevrolet Cruze, a compact whose sales dropped by 23% in 2018. The plant only operated for eight hours a day. Automobile factories usually have to run at least two shifts to earn money.
Other automakers have been affected by the passage of cars. Ford said last year that it was pulling the sedans out of its lineup. Fiat Chrysler did it in 2016.
Over the weekend, Trump had suggested that the Lordstown plant be reopened "in a different form or with a new owner," noting that "time is running out"!
Mr. Trump also wrote that he spoke to Mary Barra, GM's general manager, and urged her to sell the plant or "do something else quickly". He also criticized David Green, president of U.A.W. Local 1112 stated that Mr. Green "should take charge and produce".
The automaker responded to Trump's comments stating that "the ultimate future of unallocated power plants will be resolved between GM and the US union." The union said Monday in its own Twitter message that "companies are closing down factories , not the workers, "while urging the president not to let" GM off the hook. "
The elected officials of Ohio quickly defended the union.
Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat who has criticized Mr Trump's inattention to factory problems in the past, blamed the president Sunday for "attacking workers". Mr. Green and the Lordstown unionists "showed courage and determination in the face of adversity," Brown wrote on Twitter.
Tim Tim Ryan's representative, a Democrat representing the region, wrote on Twitter that Trump's message about Green was "counterproductive and insulting". tried to get in touch with Mr. Trump twice in the hope of getting his help, Mr. Ryan added that he had received no response.
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