(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump insists his trade war with China will spur more manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Two of the companies he's targeted -- Apple Inc. and Ford Motor Co. -- disagree.
In a tweet Sunday, Trump said Ford's decision not to import a new crossover vehicle from China means the Focus Active “can now be built in the U.S.A.”
The automaker has already said that it has no plans to manufacture the vehicle in the U.S. Ford announced on Aug. 31 that the Trump administration's 25 percent levy on China-built autos undermined the profitability of importing it.
Ford stood by its decision on Sunday.
“It would not be profitable to build the Focus Active in the U.S. given an expected annual sales volume of fewer than 50,000 units and its competitive segment,” Mike Levine, a spokesman for the company, tweeted in response to the president's post.
“Ford has abruptly killed a plan to sell a Chinese-made small vehicle in the U.S. because of the prospect of higher U.S. Tariffs.” CNBC. This is just the beginning. This car can now be BUILT IN THE U.S.A. and Ford will pay no tariffs!
A day earlier, the president exhorted Apple to start building new plants in the U.S. after the tech giant warned that a proposed $200 billion in new tariffs on Chinese imports would jack up the price of its products.
“Our concern with these tariffs is that the U.S. will be hardest hit, and that will result in lower U.S. growth and competitiveness and higher prices for U.S. consumers,” Apple said in a Sept. 5 letter to the Office of U.S. Trade Representative. It asked the government to come up with other measures to bolster the economy. Back in May, CEO Tim Cook told Trump that duties “were not the right approach.”
Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for a comment on Trump's latest broadside.
