Recently, President Trump put a bit of pressure on the automotive company, General Motors, to reopen its manufacturing plant in Ohio. The recent shut-down caused 1,700 people to be put out of work.
Trump’s attempt at getting them to see things his way came in a series of tweets from the president on Saturday and Sunday. Concluding his rant with a tweet, Donald Trump explained that he made sure that the CEO of GM, Mary Barra, knew exactly how he felt about the plant closing during a conversation between the two.
“I am not happy that it is closed when everything else in our country is BOOMING. I asked her to sell it or do something quickly. She blamed the UAW Union — I don’t care, I just want it open!” wrote President Trump.
The union President Trump spoke about was the United Automobile Workers union, which allows the employees who lost their jobs in the Lordstown closure to have representation. Previously, Trump told the leader of the UAW, David Green, that he needed to “get his act together and produce” for the workers of Lordstown.
While insisting that the CEO of GM “must act quickly,” Trump is calling for Barra to reopen the GM doors in Lordstown, or find another owner that will. Trump also had no problem bashing GM for letting down the people of the United States and assured that “much better” automakers will be coming to the country soon.
In an attempt to show how GM is less committed to the United States, President Trump celebrated the Japan automaker, Toyota, for its consistent investments in the United States. The closure of GM in Lordstown has become a major topic of discussion for the areas in Ohio that are expected to be crucial voters if Trump plans on getting re-elected in 2020. In the 2016 election, Ohio came through with a win that helped Trump achieve the necessary electoral votes to become president, even though Hillary Clinton had won the popular vote.
That is most likely the main reason why Trump jumped on a coalition with the local lawmakers of Ohio in an attempt to get the Lordstown plant up and running again. President Trump’s tweets showed some of the criticism that he has towards GM thus far.
President Trump has called out several other American companies for not doing their part to help the economy in the U.S., but his statements so far have been more about talking than making any kind of action. For example, Trump has publicly called out Apple, asking them to move most of their manufacturing from China to the United States, but the company from Silicon Valley is planning on keeping most of their business overseas.
Last week, Gov. Mike DeWine from Ohio stated that he has major doubts the GM will open up the plant in Lordstown again, but he did say that the automaker explained that they were talking with another company about using the site for something else.
During its 53-year run, the GM factory in Lordstown made more than 16 million cars. That was until they shut their doors earlier this month as a part of their massive reorganization. GM is also planning on closing four other plants in North America by early 2020.
