Trump Seeks to Extract Jobs from Big Automakers

President Donald Trump met with automaker executives today, seeking to pressure the “Big Three” manufacturers to make new investments in the United States.

The meeting came only one day after Trump sent strong messages to American industry — and to American workers — when he signed an executive order pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks.

“We’re very encouraged by the president and the economic policies [Trump is] forwarding.”

Sitting with GM CEO Mary Barra, Ford CEO Mark Fields, and Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, Trump asked for more U.S. plants from the Big Three.

“We have a very big push on to have auto plants and other plants — many other plants,” Trump said before breakfast with the officials. “It’s happening.”

Trump made clear he sympathizes more with the Big Three’s U.S. workers when he met with union officials on Monday.

The workers praised Trump’s order pulling out of TPP and hoped Trump follows up on a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, passed in 1993 between Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

“Today’s announcement that the U.S. is withdrawing from TPP and seeking a reopening of NAFTA is an important first step toward a trade policy that works for working people,” said AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka after the Monday meeting.

Now Trump is focusing on the Big Three: GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler.

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Trump wants more cars sold in the United States to actually be made in U.S. factories.

After the meeting, Ford CEO Mark Fields praised Trump for rejecting TPP because it did not address the currency manipulation of certain Asian nations. Currency manipulation — in particular, the deliberate cheapening of Chinese currency to make it attractive to build there — was one of Trump’s top issues in 2016.

“We’re very encouraged by the president and the economic policies he’s forwarding,” said Fields.

Fields said Trump’s policies could create a “renaissance” in American manufacturing.

Early in his transition, Trump scored some important victories when Fields called Trump and told him a Kentucky assembly line would stay in place.

Earlier this month, Ford cancelled plans for a $1.6 billion Mexican car plant, and said they would add 700 jobs in Michigan.

Trump is now shifting his attention to GM and Fiat Chrysler. He has poked GM for making some of their Chevy Cruze models in Mexico. GM says they sell those models elsewhere in the world, according to Reuters.

It was a predictable strategy for Trump, but many past presidents have been talked out of their campaign plans if they rocked the boat of Big Business. Not Trump — for all the concerns that he is shaking the stock markets temporarily when he chides U.S. manufacturers, Trump is proceeding with plans to grow blue-collar jobs.

And there are likely more jobs to be extracted from GM and Fiat Chrysler than Ford. According to a Jan. 4 report in CNN, GM and Chrysler have more workers in Mexico than Ford does.

CNN reported Ford employs 8,800 people in Mexico. Fiat Chrysler has 12,800 workers and GM has 15,000 in Mexico.

It’s Fiat Chrysler that is likely most ripe for the next round of Trump’s Twitter scrutiny.

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“Fiat Chrysler, a company Trump hasn’t gone after, actually has the worst track record of employing the largest share of Mexican workers compared to U.S. workers,” CNN wrote. “Fiat Chrysler has also increased its Mexico-to-U.S. vehicle shipments by 139 percent in the past three months, according to Panjiva.”

Trump has been outspoken about U.S. companies importing products into the United States from nations such as Mexico. Trump wants a “border tax” for such U.S. imports, as high as 35 percent. There’s no sign that the Republican-controlled Congress would go along with that.

Many Republicans and business leaders fear that if Trump goes to far on trade, he will trigger an international trade war, while poisoning international relationships.

But Trump wants more concessions in trade, a position that likely helped him win Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in the 2016 election.