WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump convened the world’s most important auto executives at the White House Friday to review plans to roll back fuel emissions standards and press for increased production in America.
Trump also heaped criticism on the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), the pact currently being rewritten and in which the auto industry features prominently, but gave no hints on whether a deal could be struck by a key deadline next week.
“We have at this table the biggest car manufacturers in the world all represented by their top people,” Trump said at the start of the meeting.
Participants included the leaders of Fiat Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, as well as top executives BMW, Mercedes, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen.
In addition to rules on auto emissions, Trump said the meeting was focused on “how to build more cars in the United States.” “We have great capacity for building. We want a lot of the cars to be made in the United States,” the president added.
He singlled out Fiat Chrysler chief Sergio Marchionne for praise due to the company’s plans to move production of its popular Dodge Ram truck to back to the US from Mexico.
“Thank you, you’re moving to Michigan from Mexico,” Trump said. “That’s what we like. Right now, he’s my favorite man in the room.” FCA announced in January its plan to invest $1 billion in a Michigan assembly plant and create 2,500 jobs.
The White House meeting comes as trade officials from Canada, Mexico and the US race the clock to reach a deal on a revised Nafta but are hung up on Washington’s demands to increase the US-made components in vehicles that receive duty free status.
Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2018