“It’s really unfortunate when politics get in the way of the facts.” That’s what Ford CEO Mark Fields said Thursday in an exclusive interview with CNN‘s Poppy Harlow.
Fields was talking about GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s claim that the auto manufacturing giant wants to move its operations to Mexico.
When asked if Ford’s new plant in Mexico will siphon away U.S. jobs, Fields replied, “Absolutely not. Zero. Not one job will be lost. Most of our investment is here in the US. And that’s the way it will continue to be.”
Fields was responding to a claim Trump made on Fox News this Thursday, warning that Ford planned to “fire all their employees in the United States” and “move to Mexico.”
From CNN Money:
A [Ford] spokeswoman said that Michigan factory workers who now build the cars that are moving to Mexico will start building other Ford models instead.
Ford has 85,000 U.S. workers, up 50% over the last five years. It currently employs 8,800 people in Mexico, and the new plant will create 2,800 additional jobs there.
Fields said that Ford’s labor costs in Mexico are roughly 40% less than than they are at U.S. plants, which are all unionized.
As CNN pointed out, Fields seemed a bit disinterested in endorsing any particular presidential candidate.
“Whoever is in the White House, we work for them productively.”
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