McCarthy: Bring an Auto Plant to New Bedford

President Donald Trump is working to bring back manufacturing to America and an automobile plant is just the cure for the greater New Bedford economy.

President Trump recently pulled the United States out of the multinational Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal to the applause of American labor union leaders. For many years our new leader has criticized the NAFTA trade pact the U.S., Canada and Mexico forged during the Clinton administration in concert with Newt Gingrich's Congress.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Dennis Williams who serves as the president of the United Auto Workers, gave Trump "kudos" for being the first American president to address the shipping of auto manufacturing and the related jobs and capital to Mexico at the expense of the American auto workers and their families.

We will be discussing this and more on "Sunday Brunch" from 10am to 1pm tomorrow on 1420 WBSM. You can join the discussion by calling 508-996-0500.

A detailed article in the Wall Street Journal on Feb 16th explains the economic forces that could be used to re-position truck manufacturing from Mexico back to the U.S. In brief, the NAFTA deal exempts Mexican produced trucks from a 25% tariff. Last year Americans purchased 654,487 trucks produced by inexpensive Mexican labor. Pull out of NAFTA and the 25% tariff kicks in to increase the cost of the Mexican trucks. Reducing the taxes and regulations on U.S. companies and passing a GOP House plan to forbid companies from deducting their import cost and building light trucks in America is a real possibility.

Gov. Baker, Boston Mayor Walsh and the leaders of the Massachusetts legislature worked together to lure the industrial giant General Electric to Boston. General Electric had many offers from other states but the Commonwealth prevailed using a variety of economic incentives and the promise of a superb workforce. A similar team and approach was used by the leaders of Fall River and the state to attract Amazon and it's jobs to the Spindle City. The leaders in New Bedford can work with the state to attract an auto plant to the area the way GE and Amazon were courted.

There are two vocational high schools in the immediate area and many more across the region to train and educate the highly productive laborers required to produce trucks in the modern economy. The colleges and universities of New England are world renowned for producing the business and science experts the auto industry needs to steer them into the future.

The investments in the Port of New Bedford have created a facility that could handle the raw materials needed for production and the shipping of the finished autos. The regional airport allows planes carrying busy executives to avoid the air and ground traffic of Boston.

President Trump has been meeting with the leaders of the automobile companies and he has told them his going to work with them to bring their plants back to America. The plants will be build somewhere and they will be hiring thousands of American workers at good wages. Bringing an auto plant to New Bedford is a win for everybody. Well, almost everybody. There are some who can't stand to see Trump win. Will they put the future of America before their own interests?

Chris McCarthy is the host of Sunday Brunch on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard most Sundays from 10am-1pm (depending on Red Sox/Patriots schedules). The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.