<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/17/trump-just-took-credit-for-stopping-ford-from-moving-a-plant-to-mexico-but-it-was-planning-to/" class="">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/17/trump-just-took-credit-for-stopping-ford-from-moving-a-plant-to-mexico-but-it-was-planning-to/</a><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div id="topper-headline-wrapper" class="col-xs-12 col-lg-9 col-sm-8" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; min-height: 1px; padding-right: 10px; padding-left: 0px; float: left; width: 744px; font-family: FranklinITCProLight, HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><h1 data-pb-field="customFields.web_headline" itemprop="headline" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: PostoniWide, Georgia, serif; font-size: 56px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; line-height: 60px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); display: inline-block; word-spacing: -0.02em;" class="">Trump just took credit for stopping Ford from moving a plant to Mexico. But it wasn’t planning to.</h1></div><div id="slug_tiffany_tile" data-ad-type="tiffany_tile" class="right hidden-xs" aria-hidden="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; right: 10px; height: auto; max-height: 60px; overflow: hidden; font-family: FranklinITCProLight, HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-image: none !important; padding-left: 20px !important; background-position: 0% 25% !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;"></div>
<br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">President-elect Donald Trump claimed credit on Thursday for keeping a Ford plant in Kentucky from moving to Mexico. But the company never planned to move the entire plant, only one of its production lines.</p><div class="inline-content inline-html" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 12px 0px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-family: FranklinITCProLight, HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" data-tweet-id="799432403727028224" title="Twitter Tweet" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 500px; position: static; visibility: visible; display: block; height: 203.171875px; padding: 0px; border-style: none; max-width: 100%; min-width: 220px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"></iframe><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1.8em; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></div><div class="inline-content inline-html" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 12px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-family: FranklinITCProLight, HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; border-top-width: 0px !important;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-2" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" data-tweet-id="799435824622252032" title="Twitter Tweet" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 500px; position: static; visibility: visible; display: block; height: 203.171875px; padding: 0px; border-style: none; max-width: 100%; min-width: 220px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"></iframe><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1.8em; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">Ford has never announced plans to move to Mexico either its Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, which produces the Lincoln Navigator, or the Louisville Assembly Plant, which produces the Lincoln MKC and the Ford Escape.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">In a statement on Thursday night, following Trump's tweet, the company said it had told Trump it would cancel a plan to shift production of a single model — the MKC — from Kentucky to Mexico. The company last year indicated it would be moving MKC production out of Louisville, though it did not announce where it was going. At the time, union leaders said the shift would not cost any jobs in Kentucky, because Escape production would replace lost MKC production.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">“Today, we confirmed with the President-elect that our small Lincoln utility vehicle made at the Louisville Assembly Plant will stay in Kentucky,” the company said in a statement. “We are encouraged that President-elect Trump and the new Congress will pursue policies that will improve U.S. competitiveness and make it possible to keep production of this vehicle here in the United States.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">In a follow-up email exchange, a Ford spokeswoman confirmed that the MKC production had been slated to move to Mexico.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">This week, Ford chief executive Mark Fields reiterated that it was moving forward with plans to shift production of the Ford Focus to Mexico from Michigan.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">Trump has criticized those plans, which the company says will not cost any American jobs, because other models will be produced in the Michigan plant instead.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">In an interview with <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/11/15/ford-move-mexico-trump/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(25, 85, 165); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;" class="">Reuters</a>, Fields highlighted the investments the company was making in domestic plants — most notably, in Kentucky.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">Ford <a href="http://kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-Stream.aspx?viewMode=ViewDetailInNewPage&eventID=%7BD44C84C2-8E59-4DD3-814D-6215AB48BBD1%7D&activityType=PressRelease" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(25, 85, 165); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;" class="">announced</a> a $1.3 billion investment in the Kentucky Truck Plant late last year. It said the move would create 2,000 new jobs.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">Bill Ford Jr., the company's executive chairman, said in October that he had met with Trump over the then-candidate's frequent campaign attacks on Ford's decision to move small-car production to Mexico.</p><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">“I've had a very good meeting with him,” Ford <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2016/10/05/bill-ford-jr-ford-motor-co-washington-economic-club/91609438/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(25, 85, 165); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;" class="">told </a>the Economic Club of Washington. “He's a very good listener and he knows the facts.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">This isn't the first time Trump has misstated facts about a Ford move. In October 2015, he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/10/26/despite-what-donald-trump-tweeted-ford-is-still-building-a-massive-plant-in-mexico/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(25, 85, 165); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;" class="">tweeted</a> that the company had halted plans to build a factory in Mexico and would locate in Ohio instead, and he claimed credit for the decision. The company said he was wrong, and that it was continuing to build its plant in Mexico.</p><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px;" class="">Trump appeared to be relying on information gleaned from an article posted on a website of a shop that sells business cards and door hangers.</span></div></body></html>