Ford Motor Company announced last week that it will be sending all of its small car production operations to factories in Mexico by 2018 in an effort to decrease costs and maximize efficiency.
“Over the next two to three years, we will have migrated all of our small-car production to Mexico and out of the United States,” Ford CEO Mark Fields said at an investor conference.
The announcement has sparked concern about the number of jobs available in the auto industry from some, including Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, who was campaigning in Flint, Michigan, on the day of Ford’s disclosure.
“We shouldn’t allow it to happen. They’ll make their cars, they’ll employ thousands of people not from this country and they’ll sell their car across the border,” Trump said. “When we send our jobs out of Michigan, we’re also sending our tax base.”
The announcement was not unexpected, though, as both Ford and other auto manufacturers around the world have increasingly turned to Mexico for automobile production. Last year, Ford said that it planned to move production of its Focus and C-Max models out of Michigan. Other companies such as General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Mazda, Toyota, and Volkswagen all have current plans to open or expand plants in Mexico, where factory exports overall have increased 13% since 2012.
Ford alleges that existing auto plants in the U.S. will shift their focus to building larger-model cars such as pickup trucks and SUVs, which are now more popular among American consumers than small cars. However, UAW President Dennis Williams expressed concern over the growing outsourcing trends.
“There is no reason, mathematically, to go ahead and run to countries like Mexico, Thailand and Taiwan,” Williams has said previously. “We all recognize there is a huge problem in Mexico. So we have to address it as a nation. The UAW cannot do it alone. We are not naive.”
