Jobs Leaving America Under Trump: US Manufacturing Companies Moving To Mexico Despite President's Warnings Of Tax Hikes

Throughout the campaign trail and since he was elected, President Donald Trump has boasted about his ability to keep American manufacturing jobs in the U.S. In November, before he was inaugurated, he said he’d kept air conditioner company Carrier from moving 1,000 jobs to Mexico. He also took credit in November for keeping a Ford factory in the U.S., although there were never any plans to move it abroad.

Yet several other American companies announced they’d build factories in Mexico before Trump was inaugurated. Less than one month into Trump’s presidency, those companies have no plans to stop their moves.

Trump warned Rexnord Corp., a company that manufactures chain belts, against moving its Indianapolis factor to Mexico in December, but Rexnord was pushing forward with the move.

Rexnord, which employs 350 people, was expected to save $30 million annually by moving to Mexico. The move remained plan despite Trump’s threats over a series of six tweets in December to add a 35 percent tariff to goods made outside the U.S.:

“The U.S. is going to substantialy (sic) reduce taxes and regulations on businesses, but any business that leaves our country for another country, fires its employees, builds a new factory or plant in the other country, and then thinks it will sell its product back into the U.S. without retribution or consequence, is WRONG! There will be a tax on our soon to be strong border of 35% for these companies wanting to sell their product, cars, A.C. units etc., back across the border,” Trump tweeted.

Trump hasn’t yet implemented these tax regulations, and Rexnord isn’t the only company that’s calling his bluff and moving to the U.S.’ southern neighbor.

• Caterpillar, a company from Illinois that makes heavy equipment, will shut down a factory in Joliet, Ill. that employs 230 workers, and move to Mexico.
• Steelmaker Nucor, Corp., based in Charlotte, N.C., has plans to build a factory in Mexico. However, these plans could change. “We’re watching the situation in Washington very, very closely,” Nucor chief executive John Ferriola told analysts said Jan. 31.

Both Ferriola and Caterpillar Chairman Doug Oberhelman were on a council advising Trump on manufacturing policy.

• Manitowoc Foodservice laid off about 80 employees in Sellersburg, Indiana, in the wake of the election and is continuing plans to move to move to Mexico.
• CTS Corp., which makes electronic parts, will lay off 230 employees in Elkhart, Indiana, as part of its plan to shift its manufacturing to China, Mexico and Taiwan.
• Ford is still moving of its manufacturing for small cars, such as the Ford Focus, to an existing plant in Mexico, confirmed Joe Hinrichs, Ford's President of the Americas, in January.
• General Motors, another American car-making giant, has said they will continue to move production to Mexico. But the company has also pledged to create more American jobs.