President Donald Trump’s trade policy appears to have helped set the stage for a corporate giant to invest nearly half a billion dollars in Kentucky. However, the state’s tariff-averse Democratic governor appears happy to localize all the credit.
GE Appliances announced on Thursday a $490 million investment at its Louisville headquarters “to create its most advanced manufacturing plant for production of clothes washers.”
‘The tariffs — do they make the benefits better?’
The company, a subsidiary of the China-based Haier Group, plans to reshore production of clothes washers and dryers, create 800 new full-time jobs, and cement “Kentucky’s position as a global hub for advanced appliance manufacturing.”
“We are bringing laundry production to our global headquarters in Louisville because manufacturing in the U.S. is fundamental to our ‘zero-distance’ business strategy to make appliances as close as possible to our customers and consumers,” said GE Appliances CEO Kevin Nolan.
The total area of clothes care production at Appliance Park in Louisville will reportedly end up being the equivalent of 33 football fields.
Business Wire indicated that the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority helped sweeten the deal with funds to help the company modernize its building as well as by preliminarily approving performance-based incentives under the state’s business investment program and workforce training grants through the Kentucky Skills Network.
“This decision is our most recent product reshoring and aligns with the current economic and policy environment,” added Nolan.
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, a harsh critic of President Donald Trump’s tariff strategy, proved unwilling during his press conference with Nolan on Thursday to credit the president with helping shape the “current economic and policy environment” that appears to have helped prompt action on the part of GE Appliances.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D). Tasha Poullard/Lexington Herald-Leader/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
When asked whether the governor regards GE Appliances’ announcement as a tariff win, Beshear’s office simply directed Blaze News to the video of his press conference.
Whereas Beshear was silent on the matter, the liberal media rushed to insist that there was no major correlation between GE Appliances’ big move and either Trump’s tariffs on foreign-made goods — 10% on imports from most countries and a 30% levy on Chinese goods — or the president’s demands on American companies to onshore production.
Louisville Courier Journal columnist Joseph Gerth, for instance, noted on Friday, “This investment and these jobs are not because of him. It’s not because of his chaotic tariff scheme.”
Nolan appeared to suggest otherwise.
The GE Appliances CEO noted that Trump’s trade policy “makes the payback for these things much, much greater.”
“The tariffs — do they make the benefits better? Do they make incentives better?” said the CEO, as quoted in Gerth’s own article. “Of course they do.”
Nolan did, however, suggest that this investment was also the result of “long-term” planning.
“You can’t make a decision like this in a short-term-look environment because this is something that is going to be here … who knows how long,” said Nolan. “But a company that doesn’t have this long-term strategy right now is going to struggle to make decisions like this.”
The White House did not immediately respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.
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Ge appliances, Ge, Onshoring, Business, Manufacturing, Donald trump, Andy beshear, Democrats, Nolan, Investment, Politics
