DETROIT (AP) — A top General Motors executive says he sees no reason for the company to make a big jobs and factory investment in order to please President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump has criticized GM, Ford and Toyota for making cars in Mexico and exporting them to the U.S. He has threatened border taxes if the companies don’t keep jobs here. Ford made Trump happy by canceling a planned small-car factory in Mexico and announcing 700 jobs in Michigan, although it will still build small cars south of the border. On Sunday, Fiat Chrysler announced it would add 2,000 jobs in Ohio and Michigan to make three new Jeeps.
“We’re keeping it all in perspective,” General Motors product development chief Mark Reuss said in an interview at the Detroit auto show Monday. “He (Trump) is trying to build jobs and (factory) capacity and the economy in the United States. That’s a great thing. We all want the United States to succeed and we all want to work with him on that.”
But Reuss said decisions on where to build vehicles were made as many as five years ago. He said the company has invested billions in the U.S. since the 2008 economic downturn and has thousands of employees here. “I’m proud of that record. We’ll just keep it going.”
