Trump claims to save auto plant. But it wasn’t closing.
DETROIT — President-elect Donald Trump claimed Thursday that he convinced the chairman of Ford Motor Co. not to move an assembly plant from Kentucky to Mexico. But Ford never intended to move the plant, just production of one of the vehicles it makes.
Trump said in a tweet that Bill Ford, the company’s executive chairman, telephoned him with the news that a “Lincoln plant” would stay in Louisville. Instead Ford decided to keep production of the Lincoln MKC small SUV at the Louisville Assembly Plant. Ford had previously said it would move production of the MKC out of the plant in order to build more Ford Escapes there.
A factory in Cuautitlan, Mexico, was likely to get the MKC. Under a contract negotiated last year with the United Auto Workers, Ford agreed to invest $700 million in the Louisville plant in return for moving production of the MKC. Because Escape production would increase, no Louisville jobs would be lost.
It’s possible the decision to keep the MKC in Kentucky was made before the election, because Escape sales have been falling since July and additional production capacity in Louisville may not be needed.