Why You Need To Choose Your Political Battles More Wisely

Trump aims Twitter ire at Toyota over Corollas

Trump tweeted Thursday: “Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build Corolla cars for U.S. NO WAY! Build plant in U.S. or pay big border tax.”

The company fired back quickly that “production volume or employment in the U.S. will not decrease as a result of our new plant in Guanajuato, Mexico, announced in April 2015.”

Toyota noted that its Baja plant has been open since 2002. The company said the facility that was referenced by Trump on Thursday is used to “support production at our San Antonio, Texas plant, where 3,300 team members produced over 230,000 Tundras and Tacomas in 2016.”

The Republican businessman proposed a 35 percent import tariff on Mexican-made vehicles during his hard-fought campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump has most often targeted Ford Motor Co., but he turned his focus to GM in a Tuesday morning tweet before setting his sights on Toyota on Thursday.

“General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border,” he wrote. “Make in U.S.A. or pay big border tax!”

GM builds the compact Cruze sedan at its Lordstown Assembly Plant in Ohio, and builds the Cruze Hatchback in Mexico. The new Cruze hatch for the U.S. market went on sale late last year.
“All Chevrolet Cruze sedans sold in the U.S. are built in GM’s assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio,” GM said in a statement Tuesday. “GM builds the Chevrolet Cruze hatchback for global markets in Mexico, with a small number sold in the U.S.”

(DetroitNews.com)