Fiat Chrysler announced that it will be spending $1 billion to modernize a Michigan plant with the goal of bringing back 2,500 automobile manufacturing jobs to Warren, Michigan, the town where the plant is located. Chrysler announced that it will be relocating production of one of its most profitable truck lines from Mexico to Michigan. The company said these changes are the result of the tax overhaul that the GOP-led Congress passed last month.
The company also said it would pay out one-time bonuses of $2,000 to 60,000 hourly and salaried employees because of the tax package. The company’s plan calls for the relocation of Ram Heavy Duty trucks to Warren, Michigan, from Saltillo, Mexico. Chrysler said a commercial vehicle will be built in the Mexico plant once the Ram truck production is relocated.
The move will also significantly narrow the company’s exposure to any renegotiation of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. The U.S., Canada and Mexico have been negotiating a re-writing of the decades-old trade agreement since last August. The talks will be entering a critical phase in Montreal this month.