In a pair of tweets posted Thursday night, President-elect Donald Trump took credit for helping to keep a Louisville Ford plant in the U.S. despite the fact that it wasn't planning to move.
The Louisville Assembly Plant manufactures the Ford Escape and Lincoln MKC. Ford had reportedly been considering moving the MKC production line to Chicago or Mexico, but according to a statement released late Thursday, the company decided to keep the line in Louisville.
Calling Ford chairman Bill Ford Jr. his "friend," Trump tweeted the "Lincoln plant" in Kentucky would not move to Mexico:
Just got a call from my friend Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford, who advised me that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky - no Mexico
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2016
Shortly after, he tweeted again, this time taking credit for the company's decision:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/799435824622252032
Ford, which drew derision from Trump during the presidential campaign for considering moving production of the Focus to Mexico, has said repeatedly it has no plans to move any of its U.S. factories overseas.
Reuters also reported that it's unlikely Ford could make such a move under the terms of its contract with the United Auto Workers, which runs until 2019.
Trump's tweets led to a run of false news stories late Thursday claiming the president-elect had saved jobs and the manufacturing facility from moving overseas. That was not true.
In a statement, Ford said it informed the president-elect that it would be keeping the MKC production line at the Louisville Assembly Plant and that it would have more details about future plans later.
"Today, we confirmed with the president-elect that our small Lincoln utility vehicle made at the Louisville Assembly Plant will stay in Kentucky," the statement said. "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."
Ford has made heavy investments in its two Louisville facilities in recent years. In 2010, the company invested $600 million to retool the Louisville Assembly Plant, making it the home of domestic production of its Escape SUV. And late last year, Ford announced it planned $1.3 billion in new investments in the Kentucky Truck Plant.
Ford and the union representing workers at the Louisville Assembly Plant have said that if Ford moved the MKC line, the company would not have reduced workforce, as it would have done so to make room for expanded production of the Escape.
Ford spokeswoman Christin Baker told the Detroit Free Press the company was "likely" to move MKC production to its factory in Cuautitlan, Mexico, after the current UAW contract expired in 2019. But that has changed.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin retweeted Trump on Thursday and offered his own thank you to the president-elect. But Bevin got the details -- that it is a production line, not a plant -- right:
https://twitter.com/MattBevin/status/799449198089437185
A spokeswoman for Bevin did not immediately return a request for comment about sharing Trump's inaccurate information.
A spokesman for Mayor Greg Fischer said "the mayor is glad to see Ford continuing its commitment to Louisville."
A request for comment to the UAW Local 682 was not immediately returned.
