Kasich: I Brought Ford Jobs Back, Not Trump

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has pulled his latest competitor into a war of words after taking credit for Ford’s decision to move a plant from Mexico to Ohio – which critics have pointed out is factually inaccurate.

Ford Motor Company is disputing GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s claims that he altered the automaker’s future expansion plans in the USA and Mexico. Trump took credit for the decision and bragged that his rivals would not have been able to do the same.

Working as a TEAM, we brought production jobs back from Mexico to Ohio years ago.

The automaker told ABC News in a statement that it had “not spoken with Mr. Trump, nor have we made any changes to our plans”.

In December of 2011 Kasich visited the Ohio Ford Assembly Plant in Avon Lake to announce the deal with Ford that would shift the construction of the Ford F-650 and 750 trucks from Mexico to Ohio, which made Ford the only domestic manufacturer to build those type of trucks in the United States.

The billionaire real estate mogul, who has not appeared to suffer in the past for making misleading statements, is leading in national polls, though recent surveys show retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson overtaking him in Iowa. Ford confirmed past year that it would soon shift the F-650 and F-750 models from Mexico to Avon Lake.

The blog, prntly.com, claims Trump’s constant criticism of Ford outsourcing jobs to Mexico led the company to change its mind and bring the work to “struggling Youngstown, Ohio”. The short version: Trump is likely referencing a faulty article posted to a website for Printly, which isn’t a newspaper but rather a company that sells postcards and political campaign materials.

Ohio Governor John Kasich responded: “Nope”. That’s how things get done. Hard work and teamwork brings results for the people.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks didn’t immediately reply to an email request for comment. The production of the trucks added 1,000 hourly UAW jobs following a $168 million plant upgrade.

April 2015: Ford announced it will spend $2.5 billion on two new plants in Mexico that will focus on building fuel-efficient engines and transmissions. In exchange, Ford would receive a tax credit of $1 million per year for 15 years through the Refundable Ohio Job Retention Tax Credit program, the Toledo Blade reported. “Overall, more than 80 percent of our North American investment annually is in the US, and 97 percent of our North American engineering is conducted in the U.S”.