President-elect Donald Trump ‘s disapproval of Ford Motor and General Motors may be too harsh, considering the sizable presence of foreign automakers in Mexico, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said on Friday.
Trump stepped up his criticism of the American auto industry recently, attacking GM in a tweet. The president-elect claimed the auto giant was making a Chevy Cruze model in Mexico and then sending them to U. S. dealers tax free.
Trump has also previously called Ford « horrible » for its plans to move all small car production to Mexico within three years. But, the automaker announced on Tuesday it will cancel production of a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico , and will instead invest $700 million in Flat Rock, Michigan.
Cramer noted, however, that during his time in Mexico, it wasn’t the U. S. automakers he saw.
« If you go to the state that I spend my time in Mexico in, it is BMW, it is Lexus, it is Benz. That’s who makes them there, » Cramer said on « Squawk on the Street. »
Cramer’s comments come after Trump threatened Toyota Motor with a large border tax if it builds a new plant outside of the U. S. On Thursday, Japanese officials defended Toyota, saying in part the company is an important corporate citizen of the U. S.
