While it’s welcome news that automaker GM plans to invest and add jobs in the United States, it can also be said that companies are acting in their own business interests.
Scott Paul of the Alliance for American Manufacturing says it’s not just good will encouraging General Motors to follow Fiat-Chrysler and Ford in U.S. operations. They likely see potential in the near future.
“Whether they think our economy is going to grow and create more demand for automobiles,” Paul observes, “or they think it might be more expensive to operate in countries like Mexico because of some potential Trump policies.”
That’s not to say that Paul is not pleased with GM’s announcement.
Paul“I’m happy anytime a company announces they’re going to be investing in America and creating jobs here,” he explains. “So the fact that GM is going to be adding thousands of new jobs, investing a billion dollars, is great news for workers and the economy.”
There is a rationale, he says, for companies to want to get on the good side of a president.
“And there’s no better way to do that than to say you’re going to be creating some jobs and this is true with Donald Trump, and this was certainly through in Barack Obama,” he says. “I remember Master Lock and General Electric, and a number of other companies getting a shout-out from President Obama for reshoring some jobs in the aftermath of the Great Recession.”
Paul says AAM has reached out to the Trump administration with an offer to be a resource to discuss manufacturing-related issues such as reforming trade policy, reinvesting in national defense industry, and reforming the tax code.
