CNN Fact check: John Deere says Trump's story about how he saved US jobs with a tariff threat is fictional

[Dennis Donovan]

Daniel Dale - Fact check: John Deere says Trump’s story about how he saved US jobs with a tariff threat is fictional

By Daniel Dale, CNN

Published 10:39 AM EDT, Wed October 16, 2024


When former President Donald Trump was challenged at a Tuesday event about the potential economic harms of his proposal for across-the-board tariffs on imported goods, Trump told what sounded like a tariff success story.

He said that in response to his threat to impose hefty tariffs on John Deere if the storied American farm equipment maker went ahead with a plan to move some production from the US to Mexico, the company had just announced it was likely abandoning that outsourcing plan.

Trump said: “Are you ready? John Deere, great company. They announced about a year ago they’re gonna build big plants outside of the United States. Right? They’re going to build them in Mexico … I said, ‘If John Deere builds those plants, they’re not selling anything into the United States.’ They just announced yesterday they’re probably not going to build the plants, OK? I kept the jobs here.”

But a search of news articles and corporate press releases showed nothing about any such John Deere announcement the day prior. And in response to Trump’s story, a John Deere spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News that it had not changed its plans or announced any such changes.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a CNN request for any evidence for the former president’s story.

/snip

Daniel Dale
Trump told a story about how he saved US jobs with a tariff threat that got John Deere to declare “yesterday” that it’s killing a plan to move some production to Mexico.

Except there was no yesterday declaration, and Deere says it isn’t killing the plan:
From cnn.com
10:44 AM · Oct 16, 2024

Link to tweet

[tanyev]

1. Aw, he forgot to mention that all the John Deere execs had tears in their eyes.

[North Shore Chicago]

2. His whole life

is fiction! Let's end this Grimm's fairy tale, shall we?

[MarineCombatEngineer]

3. You mean Been A Dick Donald lied.................again?

Color me shocked.

[TwilightZone]

4. Ironically, the John Deere layoffs in Iowa were effective today.

I have a relative who was working there.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. 2,300 Plant Workers!

Plus, an unspecified number of salaried employees.
His threat saved jobs? I think not.

[Solly Mack]

5. Trump lied. Again. Shocker.

His followers will believe him.

The man is a liar. Call him a liar. When there is a news story about him, those doing the reporting should always say, 'Trump, the liar...' then the rest of the story.

[durablend]

7. But they can't

"...those doing the reporting should always say, 'Trump, the liar...' then the rest of the story."

"BUT THEN WE CAN'T DRAG HIM ACROSS THE FINISH LINE AS INTENDED!!!!!"

[Solly Mack]

8. They could. They just won't.

For whatever motivates them. Which can't be good.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

9. I'm so shocked

[Cha]

10. TY,, Of Course! Everything he says is Elephant SHIT.