President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday tweeted that he helped convince Ford to keep an auto plant in Kentucky, preventing a move to Mexico. This was untrue.
Ford, in actuality, had no plans to move the factory, according to the New York Times.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2016
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
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2016
Last week Ford said it planned to move production of its Lincoln MKC elsewhere, and later confirmed that it had planned a move to Mexico. After Trump’s tweets, Ford told the New York Times that it would keep production going in Louisville, Kentucky.
Ford had no intention of shuttering the factory Trump mentioned, simply to expand production of the Ford Escape in Mexico—a move Ford said would not have jeopardized U.S. jobs.
Now Ford will make more MKCs and less Escapes.
Ford added in a statement that it’s encouraged by Trump’s new policies that will “make it possible to keep production of this vehicle here in the United States.”
Trump threatened during his campaign to impose taxes on automakers that moved to Mexico. After the first presidential debate, Ford took to Twitter and denied Trump’s claim that the automaker was cutting U.S. jobs.
