A few big companies reacted swiftly and negatively to Donald Trump’s new travel ban on immigrants from 7 Muslim countries. None pronounced themselves in favor of it.
“We agree with many of the president’s policies,” Ford Motor Co. (F) CEO Mark Fields tells Yahoo Finance in the video above. “In this particular case, we don’t.”
Ford is headquartered in Dearborn, Mich., where there’s also a sizable Muslim and Arab community – including some people who work for Ford. Fields says he’s not aware of any Ford employees who have been unable to travel or otherwise affected by the ban. But family members of Ford employees could be affected, which may explain why Ford went to the trouble of issuing a statement expressly opposing Trump’s travel ban. “I’m getting a lot of notes,” Fields says, “of how proud our employees are to work for Ford.”
Other companies protesting the ban include Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), Apple (AAPL), Starbucks (SBUX), Microsoft (MSFT) and Netflix (NFLX). Some of those companies do have workers affected by the ban, with more disruption possible if Trump issues further orders governing various types of work visas, as rumors suggest.
Trump has attacked the auto industry more than any other, for building some products in low-cost countries such as Mexico and shipping them back to the United States. He has threatened to withdraw from a free-trade deal with Canada and Mexico, and impose tariffs on products exported for Mexico to the United States. “If it’s an outright tariff,” Fields says, “it would hurt the industry. “It would drive up the cost of the product and be passed onto the consumer or eaten by the company, which would reduce our profitability and our ability to invest in new products.” That seems inimical to Trump’s stated goal of creating 25 million new jobs over a decade.
The unanswered question about Trump, of course, is how much is a bluff meant to aid in negotiations, and how much full-blown disruption is he actually willing to cause. Nobody knows, but Fields says it’s heartening that Trump has formed committees of CEOs to advise him on business policy and how best to create jobs. Immigration will probably come up at the next confab.
Newman tip line: rickjnewman@yahoo.com
Rick Newman is the author of four books, including Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman.
