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Ford Cancels $1.6B Plant in Mexico, to Reinvest in Michigan

Automaker Ford is canceling a plan to build a nearly $2 billion plant in Mexico so it can invest nearly half that money into a plant in Michigan, the company said Tuesday.

Doing so will safeguard about 3,500 jobs at a facility in Wayne, Michigan, the company said in a press release, and the investment in a new "Manufacturing Innovation Center" in Flat Rock will add 700 new jobs.

That plant will build a new, electric SUV with a range of at least 300 miles — one of several new vehicles the company announced Tuesday.

The move comes as President-elect Donald Trump insists that companies should focus manufacturing in the United States, rather than outsourcing to places like Mexico. Tuesday morning, Trump took aim at the Chevy Cruze, which he said is manufactured south of the border, though Chevy disupted that.

High-level sources in Ford told NBC News that Trump had nothing to do with the company's decision to expand U.S. production and hire more employees.

But CEO Mark Fields said at a news conference that he feels tax and regulatory reforms espoused by Trump and his party are encouraging.

"We're also encouraged by the pro-growth policies that President-elect Trump and the new Congress have indicated that they will pursue," Fields said. "And we believe that these tax and regulatory reforms are critically important to boost U.S. competitiveness and of course drive a resurgence in American manufacturing and high-tech innovation."

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