Today, Trump is in Ohio to talk about manufacturing and tout Whirlpool as the “poster child’ for his tariffs. But the tariffs Trump imposed to help Whirlpool cost consumers $1.5 billion a year and boosted corporate profits while doing little to save jobs. And despite his promises, Ohio has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs under his watch, even before the pandemic hit.

The washing machine tariffs Trump imposed to help Whirlpool cost consumers $1.5 billion a year and more than $800,000 per job created.

Wall Street Journal: “President Trump’s tariffs on imported washing machines cost U.S. consumers about $1.5 billion a year, according to new research. The paper released Monday found the tariffs raised the price of washing machines by 12%.”

New York Times: “And while the tariffs did encourage foreign companies to shift more of their manufacturing to the United States and created about 1,800 new jobs, the researchers conclude that those came at a steep cost: about $817,000 per job.”

Washing machine tariffs boosted Whirlpool’s corporate profits at the expense of consumers—and Whirlpool avoided paying any federal income taxes in the first year under Trump’s tax law.

Wall Street Journal: “Whirlpool posted increased profitability in North America, its largest market, as higher prices and cost-cutting measures offset lower volumes. The company sold 7.8 million products in North America during the quarter, a 3.8% decline.”

CNBC: “The study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank, covers the first year following passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act championed by President Donald Trump, which was signed into law in December 2017… The following companies had effective rates of 0% or less, according to the report: … Whirlpool”

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Whirlpool was the “poster child” for the success of Trump’s trade policies even though the company raised prices on consumers and laid off workers.

Fremont News-Messenger: “A high-ranking economist in the Trump administration on Wednesday called Whirlpool a triumph of the president’s trade and tariff policies.  Peter Navarro, director of trade and manufacturing for the White House, spoke at a dial-in press conference one day before the president visits Clyde’s Whirlpool plant, the largest employer in Sandusky County, on Thursday.  ‘This is a very special trip for me and the president because Whirlpool really is the poster child for the astonishing success of Trump trade policy,’ Navarro said.”

Navarro claimed there had not been any “dire consequences” of tariffs on washing machines as analysts had warned, but consumer prices spiked.

NAVARRO: “I guess my point here would be that we’ve already seen the impacts of the tariffs. Remember, we imposed tariffs on solar panels and dishwashers many months ago. Donald J. Trump had the courage and vision to do that. We haven’t seen any of these dire consequences you mentioned.”

Wall Street Journal: “President Trump’s tariffs on imported washing machines cost U.S. consumers about $1.5 billion a year, according to new research. The paper released Monday found the tariffs raised the price of washing machines by 12%.”

Whirlpool struggled in the months after Trump imposed washing machine tariffs because his untargeted steel and aluminum tariffs more than offset the benefits.

Wall Street Journal: “Business there appears to have slowed in the past few months. Whirlpool paused operations at the Clyde facility for a few days each around the Memorial Day and Fourth of July holidays, according to workers, suppliers and Scott Black, the town’s mayor.”

CNBC: “Shares of Whirlpool, the U.S. based washing machine giant who was once in favor of stricter trade controls for its own industry, posted their worst day in over 30 years after executives blamed rising steel and aluminum costs for diminished quarterly earnings.  ‘Global steel cost has risen substantially and, particularly in the US, they have reached unexplainable levels,’ Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer told shareholders during a conference call Tuesday.  Whirlpool stock fell 14.5 percent Tuesday, its worst day since October 19, 1987.”

Wall Street Journal: “Nearly six months later, the company’s share price is down 15%. One factor is a separate set of tariffs on steel and aluminum, imposed by the U.S. in March and later expanded, that helped drive up Whirlpool’s raw-materials costs. Net income, even with the added benefit of a lower tax bill, was down $64 million in the first quarter compared with a year earlier.”

Trump promised to bring factories and jobs back to Ohio.

TRUMP: “The era of economic surrender is over. We are going to fight for every last American job. It’s time to remove the rust from the rust belt—to usher in a new industrial revolution. We are going to do it.”

TRUMP: “Jobs will return, don’t you like the sound of that? Incomes will rise and new factories will come rushing onto our shores.”

TRUMP: “I said, those jobs have left Ohio. They’re all coming back. They’re all coming back. Don’t move, don’t sell your house.”

Instead, Ohio lost 44,000 manufacturing jobs over the past year. And even before the pandemic, Ohio had its worst employment year in 2019 since the Great Recession, losing 12,500 jobs overall, including 5,500 in manufacturing.

Toledo Blade: “The state had regained 58,000 manufacturing jobs by June, but was still down 44,000 manufacturing jobs from June, 2019.”

Columbus Dispatch: “New revisions made 2019 the worst year for employment in Ohio since the Great Recession.  Ohio’s employment picture is off to a rough start in 2020.  And that’s before any economic fallout the coronavirus might cause.  Employers cut 6,300 jobs in January, led by steep losses in government and in the professional and business services sector, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said Friday.  Counting January’s losses, the state now has 12,500 fewer jobs than it did a year ago, the state data shows, making 2019 the worst year for employment in Ohio since the Great Recession.”

Bureau of Labor Statistics: January 2019-January 2020: Ohio lost 5,500 manufacturing jobs.

Toledo Blade: “Donald Trump was speaking directly to Ohioans during the 2016 election when he vowed to bolster the U.S. economy and reinvigorate domestic manufacturing in places where jobs had long since disappeared overseas. But when he returns here Thursday, it’s to a state confronting unemployment on level with the 2008 Great Recession, the loss of thousands of jobs at factories in the past year, and a still-raging health emergency that’s killed more than 3,500 Ohioans.”