Day After Election, General Motors Announces 2,000 Layoffs in Ohio and Michigan

The day after the 2016 election for president, General Motors announced it was laying off another 2,000 workers in plants in Ohio and Michigan, two states that gave President-elect Donald Trump a major victory on Tuesday.

GM said the layoffs will affect the third shifts in the plants in Lordstown, Ohio, and Lansing, Michigan, which build the low-selling cars sold under the Chevrolet and Cadillac brand names.

“The Lordstown plant builds the compact Chevrolet Cruze, whose U.S. sales through October were down 20%,” Fortune magazine reported. “The Lansing Grand River plant builds the Cadillac ATS and CTS, whose sales were down 17% through October.”

Earlier this year, General Motors informed investors and the car-buying public that it was increasing its presence in Mexico by investing upwards to $691 million to build new plants and expand current ones south of the border.

At the time, GM Mexico President Ernesto Hernandez celebrated the investment for what it will do for the Mexican economy.

But with its latest announcement of more layoffs of American workers, GM also pointed out it is investing in new manufacturing lines in the U.S.

According to Forbes:

GM also announced plans to invest more than $900 million in three facilities to prepare for future product programs. GM says it will invest $667.6 million at its Toledo transmission factory for a new generation of transmissions, $211 million at the Lansing Grand River assembly plant for an unspecified “new product program,” and $37 million at its Bedford casting facility in Indiana, which makes transmission casings, converter housings, heads, and small gas engine blocks that are used in Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles.

Some automakers, though, are uncertain about their future after the election of Donald Trump to the presidency. The real estate mogul and businessman often attacked American car manufacturers for moving jobs to Mexico and many times promised that the loss of these jobs was one of the main things he would put an end to if he became president.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.