General Motors' US Layoffs, Move to Mexico Reflects Unintended Result Tax Cuts - Lawmaker

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th November, 2018) US tax reform legislation approved by Congress last year with enthusiastic support from President Donald Trump has illustrated a principle of unintended consequences as evidenced by auto giant General Motors'(GM) plans to close five plants in North America, layoff American workers and move production to Mexico, Senator Sherrod Brown said.

"No one in Washington should be surprised that the very same day GM laid off workers in Lordstown, Ohio, it announced plans to make the Blazer in Mexico," Brown said via Twitter. "And now, after taking its tax windfall, GM is eliminating 14,000 American jobs."

On Monday, General Motors announced it will close five factories in the United States and Canada and lay off nearly 15,000 workers.

Although not exactly on the same day as Brown stated, General Motors announced last week it would begin making the iconic Blazer sports utility vehicle at a factory in Mexico.

Brown and other Democrats in Congress have accused General Motors of taking a $157 million benefit so far this year from tax reform and fleeing to Mexico.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump, who has made reviving US auto manufacturing a centerpiece of campaign promises and subsequent economic policy, lashed out at GM with a threat to eliminate all subsidies for the US auto giant.

"The US saved General Motors, and this is the THANKS we get!" Trump said.

In 2008, the US government rescued General Motors from bankruptcy with a government bailout totaling more than $13 billion.