In a celebratory tweet Tuesday, President Donald Trump appeared to take credit for the "big announcement" of Ford's $1.2 billion investment in three Michigan manufacturing facilities.
The announcement comes as the contract will soon begin on a 2015 labor deal struck between Ford and United Auto Workers. Ford plans on creating 130 manufacturing jobs in accordance to the deal.
Back in 2015, the local chairman of the UAW, Bill Johnson, said he was thrilled with the agreement they reached with Ford.
"There is something in this contract for everybody," Johnson said at the time. "I didn't believe when we started that [UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles] would be able to come out of this with as much as we had. He did a great job."
Nearly two years later, Trump sent out a tweet touting the job creation from the deal. At first glance, the president does not seem to be claiming sole responsibility for the announcement. But when coupled with statements from senior White House officials, there is no doubt that Trump thinks he deserves credit for the jobs.
Kellyanne Conway, for example, noted that Ford made this announcement just two weeks after meeting with Trump.
Then, during Tuesday's White House press briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer highlighted the announcement in his opening remarks.
“The president was pleased to see that Ford announced $1.2 billion investment in three manufacturing facilities in Michigan just two weeks after automobile executives came to the White House and met with the president,” he said. “This adds to the growing wave of positive news, jobs news, under the president.”
When asked whether the president did something in his meeting with industry executives that led to Ford’s announcement, Spicer responded, “I think there’s been some regulatory efforts and some commitments on the regulatory efforts going forward in the future that I think may have played a role.”
In a statement Tuesday, UAW-Ford Vice President Jimmy Settles simply praised collective bargaining.
“Thanks to collective bargaining, the hard-working men and women at each of these locations will now reap the full fruits of their labor," Settles said. "We look forward to celebrating more product investment and job growth at each of our UAW represented facilities in the months and years to come."
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