The Ohio state government has ordered General Motors to remit $28 million to the state for tax credits Ohio extended to the company for keeping the Lordstown plant open, Reuters reports. GM closed the plant in 2018.
In 2008, GM received more than $60 million in tax credits on the commitment to keep the Lordstown open for 30 years. GM closed the plant in 2018, citing declining sales of the model manufactured there. It ultimately sold the property to Lordstown Motors, a start-up manufacturer of electric-powered trucks.
President Trump has touted the Lordstown plant as an example of his success in keeping American businesses operating, seemingly ignorant of the fact that GM had actually closed the plant after his 2016 promise to local workers that GM would do no such thing.
“Don’t move. Don’t sell your house,” Trump implored workers during a 2016 rally. He promised that the manufacturing jobs that had left Ohio were “all coming back.”
GM is constructing another plant in the area–to build batteries for electric cars and trucks–however, the workforce will be significantly less than what was employed to build the Chevy Cruze at the Lordstown plant.