Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will be starting up a production facility in Detroit, establishing the first new auto assembly plant for a domestic maker in the U.S. in a decade.
The Europe-based company plans to build sport-utility vehicles at the Detroit facility, people familiar with the plan told the Wall Street Journal Thursday.
The move comes just days after the White House summoned the heads of several carmakers from the European Union to a private meeting Tuesday regarding President Trump’s threats to add tariffs to auto imports, a move that would put a major burden on the European industry. Fiat does not appear to have had a representative at the meeting.
The EU manufacturers attempted to dissuade the White House by emphasizing existing plans to invest more in their U.S. operations.
The report comes nearly a week after General Motors announced that it was closing four plants in the U.S., including two in Michigan. GM Chief Executive Mary Barra met with Capitol Hill lawmakers Wednesday to hear pleas to stop the closures. “She has said she was going to keep an open mind but does not want to raise expectations up,” Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told reporters following the meeting.
