With just 2 weeks till Trump assumes the Presidency, his unorthodox mode of communication continues unabated, wading into topics and subjects, large and small with little to no depth or subtlety.
On Tuesday, Ford Motor said it will cancel a planned $1.6 billion factory in Mexico and invest $700 million at a Michigan factory after Donald Trump had harshly tweeted the Mexico investment plan. U.S. automaker said it would build new electric, hybrid and autonomous vehicles at the Flat Rock, Michigan plant and add 700 jobs. Ford Chief Executive Mark Fields said the decision to cancel the new Mexico factory was the result of sagging demand for small cars in North America and not because Trump was elected president…Hmmm.
The very next day, Donald Trump took aim at General Motors for making a version of the Chevrolet Cruze in Mexico and selling it in the U.S, threatening to impose a 35% import tax. But it turns out that Cruze sedans sold in the U.S. are made exclusively at GM’s factory in Lordstown, Ohio. The plant in Ramos, Mexico, makes the Cruze sedan for foreign markets. It is possible that Trump’s criticism of GM is really aimed at North American Free Trade Agreement, one that he has described as venomous to American jobs but why let facts get in the way.
Expanding Twitter’s use to international diplomacy, Trump tweeted denying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s claim that his nation was in the “final stage” of developing a nuclear-armed ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. Trump then followed up with another tweet to say China wasn’t doing enough to temper the young despot’s belligerence.
Future Wealth’s View
Is there a method to his madness? In taking this risky approach of tweeting random musings without depth, analysis or subtlety, Trump risks destroying his credibility in the world stage before he even becomes the President. Trump also appears to operate in a world in which someone’s worth is a direct reflection of whether he is saying nice things about him. Sooner or later, everyone is bound to be a “loser”. That will make it hard to develop and sustain long term relationships for the next four years with the Congress and global leaders where governing requires cooperative action. Our view at Future Wealth is that financial markets is quickly going get tired of his tweets and will soon begin ignoring them, focusing instead on the possible implications of his policies and governance. We hope that someone in his cabinet would weigh in and dissuade his random use of Twitter once he assumes the Presidency. But, that would be akin to lecturing any rock star on the virtues of abstinence.