On layoffs and tariffs, GM and Trump both are flagrantly dishonest
It's tempting to see last Monday's blockbuster announcement by General Motors of roughly 14,000 job cuts and closings of four U.S. plants amid a drastic change in its production strategy as a reproach to Donald Trump and his half-baked industrial policy, such as it is.
Trump certainly took it personally, throwing tantrums about the announcement in interviews and on Twitter. "They better damn well open a new plant there very quickly," Mr. Trump told the Wall Street Journal, referring to a plant in Warren, Ohio, slated for closure. "I told them, 'You're playing around with the wrong person.' " In tweets, Trump said he was considering cutting all GM subsidies, including those for its electric cars (which, of course, go to customers, not the company).
What may have irked Trump most deeply is that GM's announcement exposed his industrial policy as a sham. He's acted as though threats and bluster were all that were needed to keep manufacturing jobs in
