Ohio Sen.-elect Bernie Moreno exclusively tells Breitbart News that he plans to launch a major push in the U.S. Senate to force the foreign company Stellantis to “repatriate” Chrysler to American hands. spoke.
Mr. Moreno is an America First Republican who is closely aligned with President-elect Donald Trump, and won the election against retiring Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) in the Nov. 5 Senate election. That's all. Before entering politics, Moreno owned a chain of car dealerships. And while his comments here about his plans to urge Stellantis to sell Chrysler again to U.S. owners may send shockwaves throughout the international corporate auto industry, they are likely to be in Ohio and across the country. That's music to the ears of auto workers. Upper Midwest.
Chrysler, one of the three largest automakers along with Ford and Chevrolet, was handed over to Italian company Fiat during former President Barack Obama's administration, and later used the profits to buy other cars in Europe as the industry recovered. He bought the company and downsized its operations. All will be integrated into the wider company Stellantis. Stellantis is headquartered in the Netherlands.
“Going back to the President's Task Force on the Automotive Industry in 2008, which Obama led, he basically did something that was never thought possible in the United States,” Moreno said in a phone interview last week. ” he said. “He took Chrysler, which makes Jeeps and Dodge Rams, and handed over the entire company to an Italian automaker called Fiat. He just said, “I'll give you the entire company for free.'' . He handed it to them for free. The company is primarily owned and controlled by the Italian oligarch Agnelli family and their heirs. When the economy recovered, Fiat and the Agnellis family again became rich as they were given Chrysler for free. They then used the proceeds to buy Peugeot and Citroën and create a monster company called Stellantis, headquartered in the Netherlands. ”
Moreno aims to have Stellantis lead an effort to “repatriate” Chrysler to American hands, as the foreign corporate leaders who currently control Chrysler are squeezing American workers. He said there was.
“Here's the punch line, what are they doing? They're shutting down Jeep production in Toledo and laying off American workers,” Moreno said. “Most of the management teams that were once American are now gone and replaced by people from Europe. They are now running companies that were once American car companies. One thing is to have Stellantis repatriate Chrysler and do nothing about the US. I think forcing Chrysler to be owned by Americans again instead of being owned by a multinational corporation that is happy to lay off workers will ruin our workers and our communities. We need to get it back in American hands, and I'm going to fight like hell for the next six years to make sure that happens.”
The push is part of a larger plan Moreno is embarking on under President Trump's leadership to create what he calls an “auto manufacturing renaissance” in the United States. This effort to bring Chrysler back to the United States is the fifth step in his five-step plan.
The first step, he said, is to end subsidies for electric cars.
“First of all, we have to stop ripping off taxpayers by giving these electric cars a $7,500 subsidy, which by the way, means you can rent a car from anywhere. It’s given to billionaires who can afford it,” Moreno said. “So when they passed the Inflation Control Act, they put a loophole in there. Bill Gates can go buy an electric Rolls-Royce and get a $7,500 check from the government, but it's a sneaky It's terrible that we're doing that. All these incentives have to be abolished, just like President Trump put them into his Agenda 47 plan. So we need to remove the incentives.”
Moreno claims that Step 2 will involve working with former Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), President Trump's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to help build the electric vehicle market under outgoing President Joe. The idea is to eliminate the rules and regulations that effectively facilitated the mandate. Biden administration.
“Second, with Lee Zeldin's great leadership at the EPA, we need to repeal the rule that effectively created the electric vehicle mandate,” Moreno said.
Next, Step 3 would use the power of the federal government to prevent California liberals in Sacramento from setting emissions standards, which Moreno argues would drive up the cost of cars.
“Third, California must stop determining emissions requirements for the entire country,” Moreno said. “As a result of these ridiculous regulations, [sic] Cars have become very expensive in California, with the average price of a new car being $50,000. The average price of a used car is $28,000. All of this is due to onerous regulations that car companies have to follow, so we're going to get rid of them. ”
And step four, of course, is to encourage car companies to produce in the United States rather than in other countries like Mexico or Canada.
“Fourth is how do we incentivize car companies instead of going to Mexico or Canada? By the way, they don't go to Canada for cheap labor, so why do we produce in Canada? Are we producing as many cars as we should be able to?'We're hiring Americans here in the United States,'' Moreno said. “It's not just the factories, but all the suppliers and vendors that offer great opportunities for middle-class, good-paying jobs.”
More details on Moreno's latest interview with Breitbart News coming soon.
