Trump blasts GM over Ohio plant closure

President Trump said Monday that he urged General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra to continue producing cars in Ohio after the company announced it planned to idle its sole assembly plant in the state.

Trump told reporters at the White House that he told Barra that GM “better get back in” Ohio “soon” and assign a new product to the Lordstown, Ohio, plant that could soon be shuttered by the company.

“They better put something else in”: President Trump expresses his disappointment in GM’s announcement of plant closures and mass layoffs https://t.co/4ojis295Z9 pic.twitter.com/wYxXb5NFCe

— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 26, 2018

{mosads}GM announced Monday that it would close up to five North American auto factories — four in the U.S. — including the Lordstown plant currently assembling the Chevrolet Cruze. GM will discontinue the Cruze in March and has not assigned a new product to the plant, likely closing it.

Trump told reporters Monday that he spoke to Barra on Sunday night and “was very tough.” He said he urged Barra to keep the Lordstown plant running and promised to put “a lot of pressure” on GM.

“I think you’re going to see something else happen there, but I’m not happy about it,” Trump said, departing the White House for campaign stops in Mississippi. “I have no doubt that in a not too distant future they’ll put something else. They better put something else in.”

Trump also told The Wall Street Journal in a Monday interview that he asked Barra on Sunday to stop making cars in China and that the company “better damn well open a new plant there very quickly.”

“I love Ohio,” Trump said, according to the Journal. “I told them, ‘you’re playing around with the wrong person.’ ”