Barra snubs Trump, again

Note: The headline might seem contradictory in light of General Motors’ announcement late last week that it will invest $300 million in a plant in Michigan to build electric cars. About 400 jobs will be created. But that investment pales in comparison to what GM is doing south of the border. Thus, the headline.

Read on.

There he was, President Donald J. Trump, striking his best Il Duce (Benito Mussolini) pose, as he demanded that General Motors either reopen or sell its massive Lordstown assembly complex.

And there she was, GM CEO Mary Barra, the bane of Trump’s existence, delivering a kick to the president’s ball bearings as her company announced a massive investment in one of his “s---hole” countries.

Little wonder, therefore, that Trump avoided the local press like the plague when he visited Ohio on Wednesday. He made sure he was among friends at a military tank factory in Lima and at a big-ticket fundraiser in a country club in Canton.

Trump, who has blasted Barra and GM for closing the Lordstown plant, kept his distance from reporters from The Vindicator and other media outlets.

Here’s the bottom line: With all his huffing and puffing, Trump has not been able to blow Barra’s house down.

Let’s go back to November when the CEO announced the closing of four U.S. assembly plants and components facilities and a factory in Canada and said 14,000 jobs would be eliminated worldwide.

Trump, a billionaire real-estate developer from New York City and former TV reality show host, warned GM not to jeopardize American auto jobs. He told Barra to shut down plants abroad and boost employment in the Good Old U.S. of A.

He said that if GM did not do his bidding, he would retaliate by taking away some of the tax benefits the company now receives from the federal government.

The threat had GM quaking in its pistons, right? Wrong.

On March 6, true to her word, Barra told the 1,500 workers in the last shift at the Lordstown plant to hit the bricks. She then shut down the assembly line that had been churning out the highly successful Chevrolet Cruze and turned her back on the Mahoning Valley.

Thus ended a 53-year marriage between General Motors and the people of this region.

And President Trump was nowhere to be found March 6.

It was only in the last week that he began tweeting about the closing of the plant – and that’s because he was coming to Ohio.

In an obvious attempt to deflect blame, the president went after GM, Barra, Democrats, the United Auto Workers and even directed his fire at Dave Green, president of UAW Local 1112 in Lordstown.

And during his speech to the workers and others at the tank plant in Lima, he went so far as to say the people of the Mahoning Valley love him, as evidenced by his strong showing in the 2016 presidential election.

It is true that Trump, the Republican political newcomer, carried predominantly Democratic Trumbull County and came close to winning in heavily Democratic Mahoning Valley.

The result was noteworthy because he was running against Democrat Hillary Clinton, whose husband, former President Bill Clinton, enjoyed strong support in this area.

Trump’s win has loosened the Democratic Party’s stranglehold and has again put the Valley in play for the 2020 election when he seeks re-election.

It is true there are Valley residents who love him, just as there were those who were disciples of the late crooked Congressman James A. Traficant Jr., and public officials who found common cause with beloved mobsters Prato, Strollo, Naples and Carabbia.

So, while the president was waxing – whether eloquent or not is a matter of taste – about GM Lordstown, CEO Barra was dropping a bombshell.

Reuters news service reported from Sao Paulo, Brazil, that General Motors will invest $2.7 billion (in the style of Trump’s tweets: $2.7 BILLION!!!!!) in two factories.

But here’s the “Up Yours” from GM to the Mahoning Valley: The investment is designed to keep the plants in Sao Caetano do Sul and Sao Jose dos Campos open.

To repeat: the $2.7 billion will keep the plants open.

According to Reuters, they were slated for closure last December.

And here’s a reality check for President Trump: The governor of Sao Paolo, Joao Doria, told a joint news conference with GM executives that he persuaded GM to reverse the decision, saving jobs.

According to the wire service, GM announced last November (that’s the same time Barra announced the idling of the Lordstown plant) that it would close two unspecified plants outside of North America by the end of 2019. It would not say whether the two Brazilian plants were on the chopping block.

Here’s another interesting parallel between what’s going on in Trump’s “s---hole” country and Trump’s America:

Sao Paolo Gov. Doria is a former businessman and reality TV show host. He took office in January and became a vocal advocate for the state’s auto industry.

Reuters provided some background to how GM’s $2.7 billion investment came about that should serve as a lesson for President Trump:

The governor said the company told him in a call days before his inauguration that it planned to close the plants.

“I thought it was going to be good news,” Doria said. “But to my surprise I was told that the next day GM CEO Barra would announce the closing of two factories in Sao Paulo. I fell off my chair.”

He then went to work making the company an offer it could not refuse.

If that kidney punch has not yet staggered Mahoning Valley residents who love Trump, here’s a poke in the eye: When Mary Barra was pressed by Valley Congressman Tim Ryan and Ohio’s two U.S. senators, Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman, about assigning another product to the Lordstown assembly complex, she said that upgrading the plant would be too expensive.

The CEO contended that the company was moving away from sedans and was focusing on SUVs, trucks and crossovers.

Barra reportedly told the lawmakers that the paint shop was too small to accommodate any vehicle larger than a compact car such as the Chevy Cruze.

And the cost for expanding the paint shop? A whopping $200 million.

The word “whopping” is meant to be sarcastic. It’s a pittance compared with the $2.7 billion GM is investing in South America, in plants that President Trump demanded that Barra padlock.

By the way, GM invested $4 billion in its Brazilian operations in 2014.

That’s why Trump’s chest-pounding is all for naught. Barra isn’t impressed or intimidated.