WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump will meet with the CEOs of Detroit's three automakers Tuesday morning to discuss job creation.
At his first full press briefing Monday, new White House press secretary Sean Spicer made note of Trump's plans to hold a breakfast meeting with representatives of Fiat Chrysler, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors.
No specific agenda was released for the meeting at the White House but Spicer said the general theme is a discussion of how "to bring more jobs back to the industry."
Ford confirmed that CEO Mark Fields plans to attend and GM confirmed that CEO Mary Barra plans to attend. Both companies declined to release any additional details.
American automakers have been notching strong profits in recent years but throughout the campaign, Trump complained about manufacturers creating jobs in Mexico and other countries rather than the U.S.
In recent days, Trump has repeated on several occasions _ including Monday in a meeting with business leaders _ a threat to impose a tariff on goods made by American companies at facilities in other countries and imported back into the U.S. Trump has also said he will renegotiate the much-maligned North American Free Trade Agreement, which has been blamed by Trump and many others _ including many in Michigan _ who argue it has cost the U.S. jobs.
Trump also formally began the process for withdrawing the U.S. from a Pacific Rim trade deal which he _ and many Democrats from Midwestern states including Michigan _ had criticized, with Spicer saying he will focus on bilateral agreements in the future instead of multinational ones.
Trump's press office had already said he would meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on "trade, immigration and security" next Tuesday. The U.S., Mexico and Canada are signatories to NAFTA, which was created in the 1990s. Trump has said if he can't renegotiate NAFTA he will withdraw from it _ though some economists say that could drive prices up in the U.S.
Trump got his first week on the job underway Monday morning by meeting with a group of business leaders at the White House that included the heads of Michigan-based Ford Motor Co., Dow Chemical and Whirlpool.
Trump, who was inaugurated as the nation's 45th chief executive on Friday, held the breakfast meeting in the Roosevelt Room and promised to the dozen business leaders gathered there that he plans to follow through on campaign promises to slash taxes and regulations on corporate America.
"We are going to be cutting taxes massively for both the middle class and for companies. And that's massively. We're trying to get it down to anywhere from 15 percent to 20 percent," Trump told the business leaders, according to a report by the White House press pool. "We think we can cut regulations by 75 percent," he added. "Maybe more."
Trump said that despite the regulatory cuts he is promising, what remains will be "just as strong and just as good and just as protective of the people."
"The problem with the regulation you have right now is that you can't do anything," he said. The pool report did not include any specific mention of regulations that could be reduced, but Trump has talked about relaxing environmental and other regulations that critics believe hamper business.
Among those in attendance were Fields, president and CEO of Ford; Andrew Liveris, president, chairman and CEO of Midland, Mich.-based Dow Chemical; and Jeff Fettig, chairman and CEO of Benton Harbor, Mich.-based appliance maker Whirlpool.
Spicer said that the meeting, which was supposed to last an hour, ended up running for two and was "a really great exchange of ideas." He said Trump plans to reconvene the group in a month and then hold quarterly meetings with the panel.
