Almost
everyone could see this coming except US President Donald Trump and he had been
repeatedly warned that his imposition of tariffs, using anti-globalisation
sentiment as an excuse, would spring back and hit American manufacturing where
it hurts.
Almost
everyone – but not Australian Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison who on 17 September 2018
was
quoted thus:
Spruiking the kind of
populist credentials that swept Trump to power, Morrison said many people in
both the US and Australia feel left behind by the powerful economic forces of
globalisation, which have brought massive wealth to some but left others
feeling poorer and disenfranchised.
“That’s what we get. The
president gets that. I get it,” the prime minister told the Times columnist
Maureen Dowd.
Morrison described Trump
as “very practical” and as someone “who’s not going to waste a day”.
“I like that about him.
I like that about him a lot, actually.’’
Here
is that oh so “very practical” Donald Trump this week.
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
27 November 2018:
On Monday local time,
the iconic carmaker announced it would close assembly plants in Ohio, Michigan,
Maryland and in the Canadian province of Ontario. The cuts amount to almost 15
per cent of the General Motors workforce.
A big part of Trump's
appeal in the so-called "rust belt" in the midwest was his promise to
bring back stable and well-paying manufacturing jobs, especially in the auto
industry. The General Motors plant at Lordstown, Ohio, is located in a county
that recorded a 29 percentage point swing towards Trump at the 2016 election.
So before heading to
Mississipi for a campaign rally, Trump said he had expressed his displeasure to
General Motors Chief Executive Mary Barra.
"I was very
tough," Trump said. "I spoke with her and I said, 'This country has
done a lot for General Motors – you'd better get back in there soon.' That's
Ohio.
"They say the Chevy
Cruze is not selling well. I say, 'Well get a car that is selling well and put
it back in' ... I'm not happy about it."
Trump said he expected
General Motors to start manufacturing another type of car in Ohio and that it
"had better" do so.
In an interview
with The Wall Street Journal on Monday, Trump said he told General
Motors: "You’re playing around with the wrong person."
Trump will this week
travel to Argentina for G20 meetings, where he will hold a highly-anticipated
meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping focussed on trade.
At the height of the
Global Financial Crisis, General Motors received a government bailout that eventually
cost US taxpayers $US11.2 billion ($15.5 billion in today's money).
But the President has
slapped a 25 per cent tariff on imported steel from China, which automakers
said has already increased commodity costs, and threatened more including on
auto parts. Car manufacturers said earlier in the year that tariffs could bring
job losses.
Trump has since boasted
about a renaissance in the industry thanks to his tax cuts and the removal of
environmental regulations put in place by his Democratic predecessor Barack
Obama.
In a tweet about
Michigan in August he said: "Lots of car and other companies moving
back!"
In 2017 he said
high-quality manufacturing jobs were no longer leaving Ohio.
"They’re all coming
back," he said at a rally in the state. "Don’t move. Don’t sell your
house."
