Donald J Trump is still three days away from being sworn into the White House but the US President-elect has already been throwing the weight of the office around, particularly on Twitter, as he engages with businesses to 'Make America Great Again'.
Having attacked General Motors earlier this month for making its Chevy Cruze in Mexico and threatening a "big border tax" unless they return production fully to the US, Trump could soon be taking credit for a forthcoming announcement from the country's largest automaker.
General Motors is set to announce plans to invest roughly $1 billion in its US factories as early as today, Reuters reports.
The move will help create or retain over 1,000 jobs, with Reuters' unidentified source saying that GM will boost employment further by taking on additional engineers.
The company's general counsel Craig Glidden told the Wall Street Journal, however, that any announcement would be of longheld plans and was not a response to Trump's online attack.
General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border. Make in U.S.A.or pay big border tax!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
If Trump can't chalk this up as a victory for his administration-in-waiting, he can take credit for having a strong inkling that it was coming down the tracks.
During an immediately infamous press conference last week, Trump cited other recent investments from car manufacturers and said: "General Motors will be following, and I think they will be."
GM had quickly responded to Trump's initial Twitter criticism with the corrective statement:
“General Motors manufactures the Chevrolet Cruze sedan in Lordstown, Ohio. All Chevrolet Cruze sedans sold in the U.S. are built in GM’s assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio. GM builds the Chevrolet Cruze hatchback for global markets in Mexico, with a small number sold in the US.”
It followed this up by telling CNBC that only 4,500 of the 190,000 Cruzes sold in the US (approximately 2.4%) were manufactured in Mexico
Fiat Chrysler was also recently moved to clarify that Trump's victory in the US presidential election had no impact on its decision to invest $1bn in expanding its production plants in Ohio and Michigan.
Statement from the company clarified that this is part of a plan which was been in the works since 2015 and that it was not a reaction to November's election.
Toyota and Ford are just two other automakers who announced plans to invest in US operations after criticism from Trump for considering investments in Mexican plants.
