Wilbur Ross, President-elect Donald Trump's commerce secretary nominee, has had a hand in sending an estimated 2,700 jobs overseas since 2004, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing previously unreported Labor Department data. When the billionaire was working as an investor, buying struggling companies and pulling them back from the brink of failure, some of the textile, auto-parts, and finance businesses he controlled resorted to shipping production abroad.
In the grand scheme of things, those 2,700 jobs "amount to a small fraction of the U.S. economy, which sees employment fluctuate by the tens of thousands of jobs each month," Reuters reported. Ross' supporters also pointed out he's saved thousands of jobs. Still, the numbers show a different side to Ross' story. "He is not the man to be protecting American workers when he's shipping this stuff overseas himself," Don Coy, who used to work at a company Ross created before the automotive parts manufacturer closed its factory in Ohio and moved production to Mexico, told Reuters.
Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly threatened to impose a "big border tax" on automakers that decide to manufacture in Mexico instead of in the U.S. When asked for comment on Ross' record, a Trump spokesman told Reuters that Ross' decisions to move jobs overseas were "driven by the need to put operations near customers and keep U.S. plants competitive, echoing arguments made by other auto industry executives who face pressure from Trump."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Ross did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. His Senate confirmation hearing is slated for Wednesday. For more on the story, head over to Reuters.
-
Courgette and leek ijeh (Arabic frittata) recipeThe Week Recommends Soft leeks, tender courgette, and fragrant spices make a crisp frittata
-
Trump’s power grab: the start of a new world order?Talking Point Following the capture of Nicolás Maduro, the US president has shown that arguably power, not ‘international law’, is the ultimate guarantor of security
-
Unrest in Iran: how the latest protests spread like wildfireIn the Spotlight Deep-rooted discontent at the country’s ‘entire regime’ and economic concerns have sparked widespread protest far beyond Tehran
-
TikTok secures deal to remain in USSpeed Read ByteDance will form a US version of the popular video-sharing platform
-
Unemployment rate ticks up amid fall job lossesSpeed Read Data released by the Commerce Department indicates ‘one of the weakest American labor markets in years’
-
US mints final penny after 232-year runSpeed Read Production of the one-cent coin has ended
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
