Trump: GM ‘is not going to be treated well’ after announced layoffs

President Trump said Thursday that General Motors “is not going to be treated well” in the wake of its planned layoffs of American workers, but suggested that the lost jobs will be quickly replaced.

“It doesn’t really matter because Ohio is under my leadership from a national standpoint,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News. “Ohio’s going to replace those jobs like in two minutes.”

The president expressed disapproval with the automaker’s announcement last month that it intends to cut 15,000 jobs and close manufacturing sites in Lordstown, Ohio; Detroit-Hamtramck, Mich.; and Oshawa, Ontario in Canada, and auto parts factories in Warren, Mich., and White Marsh, Md.

{mosads}Trump on Thursday called the move “nasty,” and pledged the company “is not going to be treated well” after the cuts.

“To tell me a couple of weeks before Christmas that she’s going to close in Ohio and Michigan, not acceptable to me,” Trump said, referring to GM CEO Mary Barra.

The president criticized GM’s focus on electric cars, calling it a “big mistake.”

“They’ve changed the whole model of General Motors,” Trump said. “They’re going to all electric. All electric’s not going to work. I don’t run a car company, but all electric is not going to work.”

The president threatened last month to end the automaker’s federal tax credit for electric vehicles in retaliation for the announced layoffs. GM’s all-electric Chevrolet Bolt and plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt qualify for the incentive.

Trump and other lawmakers have fiercely criticized GM over its decision to cut jobs and close plants. The announcement dealt a blow to Trump, who has championed the return of manufacturing jobs as a cornerstone of his economic policies.

The president has said he has spoken to Barra directly to voice his displeasure.

GM said that “many of the U.S. workers impacted” by the planned closures “will have the opportunity to shift to other GM plants.”