State of the Union fact check: Trump claim on automotive plants coming back was partially true
resident Trump on Tuesday hailed automotive companies for their U.S. expansion plans, effectively taking credit for new vehicle production.
“Many car companies are now building and expanding plants in the United States — something we haven’t seen for decades,” Trump said.
That’s true and false.
Yes, several automakers have announced plans to move automotive manufacturing to the U.S. since Trump took office. Most significantly, Toyota and Mazda announced plans to build a $1.6 billion plant in Huntsville, Ala.
Some fear the potential effects of a reconfigured North American Free Trade Agreement that punishes vehicle importing.
“The president has scared car companies into assembling more vehicles in the U.S.,” University of Michigan business professor Erik Gordon said in an email.
The Toyota-Mazda joint venture in Alabama is the only brand new standalone plant announced by a major automaker since Trump’s inauguration.
And it’s not the first in decades. Several automakers have built new plants in the U.S. in recent decades, including General Motors, Toyota, Honda, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and Volkswagen.
Trump also said Chrysler is moving a major plant from Mexico to Michigan.
Not quite. Fiat Chrysler this month announced plans to shift production of heavy-duty trucks from Mexico to a plant in Warren, Mich. The company will overhaul an existing facility but won’t build a new one.
Trump also claimed that “Toyota and Mazda are opening up a plant in Alabama, a big one, and we haven’t seen this in a long time. It’s all coming back. Very soon, auto plants and other plants will be opening up all over the country.”
The Toyota-Mazda plans, as noted above, are real. The companies plan to add 4,000 jobs within about three years.
Other new plants are in the making, but all of them were announced before Trump took office.
Also, automakers are expected to continue adding vehicle production in Mexico, according to the Center for Automotive Research.
“In Detroit I halted government mandates that crippled America’s great, beautiful auto workers so that we can get Motor City revving its engines again, and that’s what’s happening,” Trump said.
Trump in 2017 ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to renew a review process on whether stringent fuel economy regulations implemented by President Obama are appropriate.
He did not halt them, though Trump’s speech could be viewed as an indicator that the corporate average fuel economy standards will indeed be rolled back.
Whether the review of the regulations is a good thing for the industry is harder to say. In the short term, it might mean automakers reap more profits off of highly profitable pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles.
On the other hand, auto companies can’t afford to be caught flat-footed by the coming onslaught of electric vehicles and increased regulations in foreign markets.+
source: https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/politics/2018/01/31/fact-checking-trumps-state-union-speech/109974964/
