Trump to meet big 3 auto leaders in Washington

President Donald Trump will meet the chiefs of the largest US automakers for the first time since taking office, following his repeated attacks on those firms for their overseas production.
The heads of General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and Ford will attend breakfast talks with Trump, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said yesterday in his first press briefing.
"He looks forward to hearing their ideas and how we can work together to bring more jobs back to this industry in particular," Spicer said.
The meeting follows highly publicized goodwill overtures from US and global automakers, who have played up their efforts to create jobs and invest in the United States, after Trump publicly threatened them with stiff import duties for selling foreign-made cars on the domestic market.

Ford cancelled plans for a USD 1.6 billion factory in Mexico to redirect investment to the United States; GM announced USD 1 billion in US investment to create up to 5,000 jobs; and Fiat Chrysler also announced it was investing USD 1 billion and creating 2,000 jobs.
Trump yesterday repeated his pledge to renegotiate a North American Free Trade Agreement that had helped boost auto industry investment in Mexico.

Ford CEO Mark Fields met Trump yesterday, after he and Tesla co-founder Elon Musk joined other corporate leaders at a White House breakfast billed as opportunity to discuss plans for pro-growth policies.

The meeting included corporate leaders from more than 10 industrial firms and manufacturers, such as US Steel and Lockheed Martin.
"The meeting included a really great exchange of ideas and the president has decided to reconvene the group in a month," Spicer said, adding that Trump wanted such meetings to occur on a quarterly basis.
Trump told the CEOs he would reduce regulations, and cut corporate and middle-class taxes "massively."
But he also threatened a "substantial" border tax to penalize companies importing into the US market.