Ford Kills $1.6B Mexico Plant, Cites, but Doesn't Credit, Trump

Will invest $700M in Michigan instead
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 3, 2017 10:54 AM CST
Ford Reverses, Will Pump Cash Into Michigan, Not Mexico
This Feb. 11, 2016, file photo shows the Ford logo.   (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

A slap from GM, a caress from Ford for President-elect Donald Trump: The automaker on Tuesday announced that it will no longer construct what was to be a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico and will instead create 700 new jobs in Michigan by way of a $700 million investment in the state. CEO Mark Fields made clear that "we didn't cut a deal with Trump," who had been highly critical of the planned Mexico move, though Fields did speak with him Tuesday morning. "We did it for our business." That said, he called it a "vote of confidence" in the pro-business America Trump has vowed to foster, reports CNN.

The Michigan money will be spent at its Flat Rock plant, where it will manufacture more electric and autonomous cars. The now-canceled plant in Mexico was to be the site of Ford Focus production; the Focus will instead be made at Ford's plant in Hermosillo, Mexico. (More Ford stories.)

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