John Deere is an iconic American company.
Now John Deere finds itself embroiled in the 2024 election.
And John Deere made one horrible 2024 announcement that left Donald Trump no choice.
John Deere layoffs and production shift to Mexico angers Trump
John Deere is the world’s largest seller of tractors and crop harvesters.
The company’s signature green and yellow hats with its deer logo is one of the greatest corporate branding exercises ever.
But now John Deere is the poster child for what Donald Trump argues is everything wrong with Kamala Harris’ economy.
John Deere laid off hundreds of employees and is preparing to move production to plants in Mexico.
“The company is slashing around 280 workers from a plant in East Moline, Illinois, while another 230 employees are being let go at a factory in Davenport, Iowa. About 100 production employees at the company’s Dubuque, Iowa, plant will also be impacted. All layoffs are said to be effective from Aug. 30,” Fox Business reports.
In a campaign event in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump warned John Deere, and other companies thinking of shipping manufacturing jobs overseas, that he would hit them with a 200 percent tariff on products they want to ship into America.
“I just noticed behind me John Deere tractors. I know a lot about John Deere. I love the company, but, as you know, they’ve announced a few days ago that they’re going to move a lot of their manufacturing business to Mexico,” Trump began.
“I’m just notifying John Deere right now: If you do that, we’re putting a 200-percent tariff on everything that you want to sell into the United States,” Trump added.
Trump told attendees that companies who think they can gut American industry to save a buck in countries like Mexico, they have another thing coming.
“They haven’t started it yet. Maybe they haven’t even made the final decision yet, but I think they have,” Trump added.
“They think they’re going to make product cheaper in Mexico and then sell it in for the same prices they did before, make a lot of money by getting rid of our labor and our jobs,” Trump continued.
Trump then predicted that if he wins in November that John Deere will reverse course and cancel plans to build tractors in Mexico.
“You know what’s going to happen? They’re going to announce very shortly if they think I’m going to win, or, if I do win, they’re going to announce that they’re not going to build in Mexico,” he said.
Trump’s tax plan
It’s not all sticks.
Trump’s offering carrots as well.
During a speech in Georgia, Trump proposed lowering the corporate tax rate to 15 percent for companies that manufacture their products in America.
“Now we’re cutting the business tax from 21% to 15% which makes us the most competitive tax anywhere in the planet, but only for those who make their product in the USA,” Trump declared. “At 21 we were pretty good. At 15, we’re the most competitive. People are going to be pouring in, companies are going to be pouring in.”
Trump won in 2016 because he campaigned on promises to put the American worker first.
This messaging and policy proposal is a return by Trump to the playbook that worked.
