Made in America is coming back. All it took was leadership that made it a priority.
Just hours after President-elect Donald Trump blasted General Motors in a tweet Tuesday for importing the Chevrolet Cruze from a plant south of the border, Ford Motor announced it was canceling a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico in order to invest $700 million in Michigan.
"Make in U.S.A. or pay big border tax!" the businessman-turned politician had declared early Tuesday, slamming GM for "sending Mexican-made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border."
For its part, General Motors quickly responded to the Trump attack by noting that all of the Chevrolet Cruze sedans sold on the American market are produced in the U.S. A small number of Cruze hatchbacks recently began being imported from Mexico.
Ford's surprise announcement detailed how the automaker would add 700 new jobs to a $700 million plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, to produce high-tech vehicles, along with the Ford Mustang and Lincoln Continental.
I'm sure Reason's editors are already penning an angry editorial on how this won't work. Except it's working.
Fields spoke before a cheering crowd of assembly workers and reporters at Ford’s plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, where the company is investing $700 million and adding 700 jobs. The company said it will add production by 2020 of a fully electric sport utility vehicle with at least 300 miles of range, and an autonomous hybrid vehicle for commercial ride hailing or sharing by 2021 at the Flat Rock factory.
“It is the wrong time to build new plants in Mexico,” Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, said in an e-mail. “Ford will save $900 million, American jobs, and will avoid the risk of a border tax and a smack in the face from the new president.”
Ford shares rose 2.5 percent to $12.44 at 11:34 a.m. in New York, while the Mexican peso dropped 0.8 percent against the dollar.
America wins. American workers win. And it's another win for Trump.