Clinton goes after outsourcing in Michigan ads

by Alexander Bolton - 03/05/16 10:03 AM ET

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has launched two new ads in Michigan this weekend targeting companies that move their operations overseas to avoid American taxes.

The ads come a day after Clinton outlined her jobs agenda in Detroit, a city that has declined precipitously in recent decades as the auto industry has dramatically cut back operations in the area.

{mosads}Clinton’s first ad promises that she will confront companies that outsource jobs or move profits to foreign counties to reduce labor costs and taxes.

Clinton says she would end so-called corporate inversions, in which American companies merge with foreign entities and re-establish their headquarters overseas in order to pay less in taxes.

She would also require companies that transfer operations out of the United States to pay back to the government tax incentives and other incentives they received in the past.

“Hillary says you walk out on America, you pay an exit tax. And if you got tax dollars or a tax deal, you’ve got to give the money back. She’s with us,” a gritty-voiced narrator intones.

Clinton’s second ad has a more positive tone.

A more soft-spoken narrator extols Clinton’s plans a new tax credit for companies that create manufacturing jobs and promises she’ll push for the installation of 500 million solar panels in her first term.

“Making things is who we are. It’s in our DNA. And it’s how we create good jobs in America,” the ad proclaims, noting Clinton is the “granddaughter of a factory worker.”

But the ad also promises that companies that outsource or move profits overseas will “pay a price.”

On Friday, Clinton touted her jobs agenda during a speech in Detroit in which she called for a “new bargain” to create more manufacturing jobs.

The three tenets of her proposal is that companies should bear responsibility for communities, treat workers as assets and the government should “stop rewarding greed and special interests,” a campaign official said.

Tags Corporate inversions Hillary Clinton Michigan Outsourcing