Trump slams GM on Twitter

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday blasted General Motors on Twitter, threatening a “big border tax” on the automaker’s models made in Mexico.

General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border. Make in U.S.A.or pay big border tax!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017

GM’s stock dropped by about 1 percent, roughly a quarter billion dollars in value, after his tweet.

{mosads}GM announced last June it would build the Chevrolet Cruze model in Mexico and sell them in the U.S. for the first time due to high demand.

The automaker revealed the change after its plant in Lordstown, Ohio, struggled to meet consumer demands.

“In an effort to meet customer demand for the Chevrolet Cruze, GM will be utilizing existing production capacity in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico to supplement production at its plant in Lordstown, Ohio,” GM said in a statement. “Cruze vehicles are continuing to arrive in dealers across the U.S. and Canada, and we expect that dealer inventories will increase this month.”

In a statement released about an hour after Trump tweeted, GM said only a small number of its cars made in Mexico are sent to the U.S. market.

“General Motors manufacturers the Chevrolet Cruze sedan in Lordstown, Ohio. All Chevrolet Cruze sedans sold in the U.S. are built in GM’s assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio. GM builds the Chevrolet Cruze hatchback for global markets in Mexico, with a small number sold in the U.S.,” a statement from the company reads.

GM is not the first automaker Trump has attacked. He repeatedly hammered Ford on the campaign trail.

U.S. taxpayers lost $11.3 billion in the federal bailout of GM following the 2009 financial crisis. Ford did not take a bailout.

Last September, for example, Trump hit Ford for shifting all of its North American small-car production from the U.S. to Mexico. 

“We shouldn’t allow it to happen,” he said during a visit to Flint, Mich., on Sept. 14. “They’ll make their cars, they’ll employ thousands of people not from this country, and they’ll sell their car across the border.”

“When we send our jobs out of Michigan, we’re also sending our tax base,” Trump added in a typically blue state that turned red for him on Election Day. 

Trump has also targeted other U.S. businesses on Twitter, most recently singling out Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

This report was updated at 10:27 a.m.

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