President Trump has been an outspoken critic of companies that outsource jobs to Mexico and Ford has been one of his more frequent targets.
Following news that the company would shift Focus production to China and Europe, many observers were expecting a Twitter rant from the commander-in-chief. Surprisingly, that hasn’t happened and some officials in his administration seemingly praised the news.
According to The Detroit Free Press, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said “The Ford decision shows how flexible multinational companies are in terms of geography.” However, he added “I believe that as President Trump’s policies and reforms take hold, more companies will begin to locate their facilities in the U.S. as several German and Japanese automakers already have.”
The lukewarm response could be in part to Ford’s announcement that no workers will lose their jobs as a result of the change. Instead, employees at the Michigan Assembly Plant will begin building the Ranger in late 2018 and the Bronco in 2020.
Ford’s president of global operations, Joe Hinrichs, doesn’t think customers will mind either as he told Bloomberg “Consumers care a lot more about the quality and the value than they do about the sourcing location. iPhones are produced in China and people don’t really talk about it.”
Of course, Ford isn’t the only American automaker to import vehicles from China as the Buick Envision is built there and so is the Cadillac CT6 Plug-in Hybrid.
Photo Credits: CarPix for CarScoops
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