President-elect Donald Trump took credit Thursday night for convincing the chairman of Ford Motor Company to keep a manufacturing plant in Louisville, Kentucky, from relocating to Mexico -- but the automaker says it never planned to relocate the entire plant.
Trump tweeted, "Just got a call from my friend Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford, who advised me that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky -- no Mexico. I worked hard with Bill Ford to keep the Lincoln plant in Kentucky. I owed it to the great State of Kentucky for their confidence in me!”
But Ford spokeswoman Christin Baker told ABC News that the automaker had only planned to transfer production of the Lincoln MKC -- not the entire plant –– out-of-state. The Louisville Assembly plant also produces the Ford Escape.
"We had planned to move the MKC out of the Louisville Assembly Plant, per the contract we negotiated with the UAW in 2015," Baker said, adding that Cuautitlán, near Mexico City, "was likely the plant for MKC."
It was unclear when the decision to maintain production of the Lincoln MKC in Kentucky was made.
In addition to Baker's comments to ABC News, Ford released this statement following Trump's tweets:
“We continue to engage with President-elect Trump’s team –- and the new Congress –- as they shape the policy agenda for 2017. We have shared our commitment to continue investing in the U.S. and creating American jobs -– building on the $12 billion we have invested in our U.S. plants and the nearly 28,000 U.S. jobs Ford has created in the past five years. Ford continues to employ more American autoworkers and produce more American made vehicles than anyone.
Today, we confirmed with the President-elect that our small Lincoln utility vehicle made at the Louisville Assembly Plant will stay in Kentucky. We are encouraged that President-elect Trump and the new Congress will pursue policies that will improve U.S. competitiveness and make it possible to keep production of this vehicle here in the United States.
We will have more details to share on our future plans at the appropriate time."
Asked by ABC News whether Trump was responsible for keeping production of the Lincoln MKC in Kentucky, Baker responded by borrowing language from the aforementioned statement, saying Ford was "encouraged that President-elect Trump and the new Congress will pursue policies that will improve U.S. competitiveness and make it possible to keep production of this vehicle here in the United States."
The announcement about MKC production staying in Kentucky comes days after Ford CEO Mark Fields told CNBC that the company would press ahead with plans to move small car production out of its Detroit manufacturing center to Mexico despite Trump’s election victory, according to The Associated Press.
The CEO said that no U.S. jobs would be lost as part of the move, as the plant in Michigan would continue manufacturing other vehicles.
from ABC News: Politics http://ift.tt/2g2wGco
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