Donald Trump tells Detroit auto CEOs that environmental regulations are ‘out of control’
President Trump told the chief executives of the country’s largest automobile manufacturers Tuesday that environmental regulations are “out of control” and pledged to make it easier for the companies to open assembly plants in the United States.
Trump said that a “very big push” is underway to expand all manufacturing in the United States in an effort to create more of the long-term manufacturing jobs that he promised on the campaign trail. Many of the states where Trump scored victories, including Michigan and Ohio, are home to many U.S. auto plants.
Tuesday’s meeting comes after Trump has taken to Twitter several times in recent weeks to lambaste automobile companies that manufacture cars in Mexico, where labor is cheaper and export laws are more favorable. He has threatened to penalize companies that don’t build in the United States with a hefty border tax.
Chief executives Mary Barra of General Motors, Mark Fields of Ford and Sergio Marchionne of Fiat Chrysler attended the meeting, along with other top executives from their companies.
Trump said he plans to focus on “real regulations that mean something” and eliminate those that he considers inhospitable to business. The executives declined to answer questions after the meeting, including whether the president cited any specific regulations he would cut.
“I am, to a large extent, an environmentalist, I believe in it, but it’s out of control,” Trump said.
Vice President Pence, chief strategist Steven K. Bannon, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and senior adviser Jared Kushner also attended the meeting.
Trump met Monday with business leaders from a smattering of industries, including Fields and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk. The president reportedly told executives that he intends to eliminate a majority of regulations and “massively” cut corporate taxes, but that in return those companies must keep production in the United States and preserve American jobs.
The executives were told to submit a “series of actions” that would boost U.S. manufacturing to Trump within the next 30 days.
“I come out with a lot of confidence that the president is very, very serious about making sure that the United States economy is going to be strong and have policies on tax, regulatory or trade to drive that,” Fields told reporters after Monday’s meeting. “That encourages all of us as CEOs as we make decisions going forward. It was a very, very positive meeting.”
Although Trump spoke often on the campaign trail about the need to revive manufacturing across the economy, he narrowed in on the automotive industry in particular in the weeks after his election. Through his Twitter account, he separately criticized Ford, GM and Toyota for plans to build certain cars in Mexico and then sell them in the United States.
Trump threatened automotive companies that build abroad with a 35 percent tariff on goods imported to the United States for sale. That topic was discussed at length with executives at Monday’s meeting, and whether Trump has the power to impose such a tax on select companies has been called into question.
Conversely, Trump has also praised automakers who pledged to invest in the United States and add jobs here — often taking credit for those decisions even when companies said they had been in the works for months or years. This month alone, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, GM, Toyota and Hyundai pledged to spend billions of dollars in the United States over the next several years on new factories, expanded production and hiring.
David Nakamura contributed to this report.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2017/01/24/donald-trump-tells-detroit-auto-ceos-environmental-regulations-are-out-of-control/
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