President Donald Trump "obviously was just talking campaign talk" with his promises to restore manufacturing jobs in the United States, Rep. Tim Ryan, whose Ohio district is being hit hard by General Motors layoffs and closures, said Thursday.
"It's not working here in northeast Ohio; it's not working in Michigan," the Democratic lawmaker told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "There's no comprehensive plan in the United States to really bring manufacturing back or invest in new technologies. He has a very incoherent at best economic policy and this is what we see. There's going to be shifts in the market."
Trump's policies have given companies like GM and others incentive to leave the country, as they get a "lower tax rate if they go to Mexico and invest into workers and construction projects down there as opposed to the United States, and this is just insane," Ryan added.
Further, Trump has said incentives for electric vehicle development will end, but that is the "future of Tesla and other motor companies."
"I don't know if he wants to get back to the horse and buggy or what his plan is, but the future is in these new technologies, and he's trying to punish the car companies with that, so there is no future," the congressman said.
Ryan has spoken with GM CEO Mary Barra, who argues that cutting 15,000 jobs is necessary for the survival of the company, and he said is trying to point out to GM that as it invests into electric vehicles and other new products, he hopes GM will keep its Lordstown community in mind.
"They play by the rules, go to their Little League and churches, they do everything right," said Ryan. "We want General Motors to find another product."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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