GM defends US investment following Trump jabs over Ohio plant

foxbusiness.com:

Washington Examiner writer Tiana Lowe on President Trump's criticism of General Motors over the automaker's decision to close its plant in Lordstown, Ohio and the potential impact of Trump's threat of more auto tariffs.

U.S. automaker General Motors reiterated its commitment to its U.S. employees and manufacturing efforts on Wednesday, following a surge of pressure from President Trump over its unallocated Lordstown, Ohio plant.

Without responding directly to the president’s comments – where he said «GM let our country down» – GM said it continues to invest in Ohio, where it has spent nearly $1 billion across four facilities outside of Lordstown since late-2016. The automaker said it spends more than $6 billion every year with state suppliers.

Production at the Lordstown plant ceased earlier this month. It is one of several North American plants that the automaker announced it would shutter by early next year as part of a restructuring effort.

Across two unallocated plants – in Lordstown and Detroit-Hamtramck – GM said 2,800 jobs were affected, but it had 2,700 open positions at other plants as of the end of last year. About 1,200 workers were eligible for retirement.

«GM has been working tirelessly to place each employee across its U.S. manufacturing plants,» the company said. «Over 1,000 employees have already been placed in jobs at other U.S. GM plants, with several hundred more in the process of being placed.»

The company added that it employs 90,000 people in the U.S. across 27 states and has invested $22 billion in its plants since 2009.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, GM announced plans to invest $2.7 billion in Brazil factories over the course of five years.

Overall, the company said its restructuring plan would result in