Trump uses false claim about Chinese auto plants in Mexico to call for UAW president to be fired

DETROIT (AP) — Donald Trump made a pitch for votes from key swing state autoworkers during his acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination, using false claims to call on them to fire their union president.

On Thursday night in Milwaukee, Trump said the United Auto Workers union should be ashamed for allowing Chinese automakers to start building large factories just across the border in Mexico, from which they will ship cars to the U.S. without any taxes.

At present, though, industry experts say they know of no such plants under construction, and there’s only one small Chinese auto assembly factory operating in Mexico. It’s run by a company called JAC that builds inexpensive vehicles from kits for sale in that country.

“The leader of the United Auto Workers should be fired immediately and every single auto worker, union and nonunion, should be voting for Donald Trump,” the former president said.

Jeff Schuster, vice president of automotive research for analytics firm Global Data who tracks auto production, said he knows of no Chinese auto assembly plants under construction in Mexico and said Trump’s claims were “clearly exaggerated.”

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