WASHINGTON, March 18 (KUNA) -- US President Donald Trump said Monday that General Motors (GM) and United Automobile Workers (UAW) must hold immediate talks on the plant that GM closed in Lordstown, Ohio.
The plant should be reopened or sold, and jobs have to return to the US, Trump said in a tweet.
The GM-UAW talks are set to be held in the last quarter of 2019, between September and October, he noted, adding "Why wait? Start them now.
"I want jobs to stay in the USA and want Lordstown, in one of the best economies in our history, opened or sold to a company who will open it up fast," he asserted.
"Car companies are all coming back to the US so is everyone else. We now have the best economy in the world, the envy of all," he maintained.
Trump reiterated that instead of closing any plant in the US, GM should have closed plants in China or Mexico.
"Get that big, beautiful plant in Ohio open now. Close a plant in China or Mexico, where you invested so heavily pre-Trump, but not in the USA. Bring jobs home," he said.
The automaker announced a major global restructuring in November, including the closure of four US plants and another in Canada.
It said it would cut 8,000 salaries and contract jobs, representing a 15 percent reduction in its workforce.
Trump tweeted Sunday evening that he spoke with GM CEO Mary Barra about the affected factory in Lordstown, Ohio and "asked her to sell it or do something. (pickup previous) rsr.ma