Donald Trump Claims Credit For Ford Motor Co. 'Changing' Mexico Plans; Ford Doesn't Know What He's Talking About

By Christy Strawser

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) - When E.F. Hutton talked, people listened, and now Republican presidential hopeful, reality TV star and and real estate mogul Donald Trump is claiming to be in the same league where Ford Motor Co., is concerned.

Trump Tweeted numerous times in the last 24 hours saying Ford "listened to him" and changed course on plans to produce vehicles in Mexico.

But there's a problem: Ford said they're not changing anything, they're on course with a plan they started in 2011. And they've never spoken to Trump.

"Ford has not spoken with Mr. Trump, nor have we made any changes to our plans," the company said in a press release. "We decided to move the F-650 and F-750 medium-duty trucks to Ohio Assembly in 2011, long before any candidates announced their intention to run for U.S. president. We are proud that Ford has invested $10.2 billion in our U.S. plants since 2011 and hired nearly 25,000 U.S. employees.

"Overall, more than 80 percent of our North American investment annually is in the U.S., and 97 percent of our North American engineering is conducted in the U.S."

When he claimed credit, Trump was apparently reacting in grandiose fashion to a factually incorrect story published by a blog named Prntly, headlined "Trump successfully pressures Ford to move Mexican plant to Ohio."

The story was Tweeted to Trump and he started retweeting it and heaping praise on himself. The story itself has comments including, "Epic. Trump is the man."

This follows a mid-August stop near the Motor City where an enthusiastic crowd of 2,000 people loudly applauded his every line, Trump criticized Ford Motor Co.'s decision to move $2.5 billion worth of production to Mexico. The move was announced a few months ago.

In part of his long speech where he covered many topics, Trump said as president he would fight Ford Motor Company's decision to move production south of the border.

"Ford is building a $2.5 billion plant in Mexico," he roared to the packed auditorium in Birch Run, Mich., according to Bloomberg. "I'll actually give them a good idea. Why don't we just let the illegals drive the cars and trucks right into our country?"

"I would say, the deal is not going to be approved, I won't allow it. I want that plant in the United States, preferably here," Trump said.

He added: "So then I only have one question, 'Do they move the plant to the United States the same day or a day later?'" Trump asked.

Fact checking will find Ford is not building a single $2.5 billion plant. They're expanding a parts plant and building an engine and transmission plant.

Ford has had a presence in Mexico for 90 years.