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President Donald Trump answers questions from the press while departing the White House on November 26, 2018 in Washington, DC.
President Donald Trump continued to rail against General Motors Thursday following the automaker’s decision to cut 14,000 jobs in the U.S. and Canada.
Trump Tweet
Trump criticized the largest U.S. automaker in a morning tweet, saying other companies were “pouring into the U.S., including BMW, which just announced a major new plant. The U.S.A. is booming!”
The Detroit automaker on Monday announced plans to halt production at five factories in North America, two overseas and cut about jobs in the company’s most significant restructuring since its bankruptcy in 2009.
GM warned this summer that the Trump administration’s trade war could force job cuts in the United States. Trump was irate with GM’s announcement this week, tweeting on Tuesday that he was “very disappointed” with the company and CEO Mary Barra for idling plants in Ohio, Michigan and Maryland.
“Nothing being closed in Mexico & China. The U.S. saved General Motors, and this is the THANKS we get,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday. He also threatened Tuesday to cut all of the company’s federal subsidies, following up on Wednesday with the announcement that the administration was studying all tariffs on cars imported to the U.S. because of the “G.M. event.”
Out of the 14,000 job cuts, 2,250 workers have already taken voluntary buyouts, according to a company spokesman. Roughly 5,750 salaried workers and 6,000 hourly employees will be laid off. Half of the hourly workers are in Canada with the other half in the U.S., where the company will work with union officials to try to move to other plants, spokesman Pat Morrissey said.
