“We could leave it to our child.” Trump appears to be throwing shade at BMW and Mercedes workers in SC

Former President Donald Trump said foreign automakers are “getting away with murder” by making parts in Germany and assembling them in plants in South Carolina, describing it as something a child could do.

“They say, ‘Oh yeah, we build cars.’ They don’t build cars. You take them out of a box and put them together. “We could leave it to our child,” Trump said Tuesday during an appearance at the Economic Club of Chicago.

Trump didn’t mention any companies by name, but South Carolina has only two German automakers – BMW in Spartanburg County and Mercedes Benz Vans in Ladson.

BMW assembles a range of vehicles and Mercedes-Benz makes Sprinter vans.

Reaction online was fast and furious, from Spartanburg locals to nationally known business leaders.

Businessman Mark Cuban said: “He still thinks it’s 1965. It’s obvious he has no idea what it takes to make an advanced product, be it a car or anything else.”

Betsy Teter, a former Herald Journal business reporter and founder of the Hub City Writers Project, responded to a post on Facebook by saying, “Pretty much every automobile plant, domestic and foreign, is an assembly plant. The parts come from suppliers and that’s how cars are made. This is how they build boats. This is how they build airplanes. It’s a ridiculous statement that this is a job for children. Has he never been to a factory?”

A BMW spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s statement was originally posted on Kamala Harris’ campaign account.

A German business weekly also reported: “Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron that he wants to persecute German automakers until there are no more Mercedes-Benzes driving on New York’s Fifth Avenue.”

BMW Manufacturing opened in Spartanburg County in 1992 and has since invested nearly $13.3 billion in construction, equipment and other capital expenditures through numerous expansions, its website says.

A study by the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business found that BMW’s economic impact on the state was $38.5 billion. BMW Manufacturing has 11,000 jobs locally.

The company’s website says BMW Manufacturing regularly uses more than 500 South Carolina suppliers, 90% of which are located in the Upstate. A number of its suppliers have opened plants in the region.

Mercedes opened its factory in 2006 and expanded it in 2017. According to its website, the company employs around 1,700 people.