Former Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe praised Ford Motor Company’s decision to cancel its plans to build a $1.6 billion auto manufacturing plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
“I’d like to take a moment to congratulate Ford, its current employees, its future employees, the great state of Michigan, and of course, The United States of America,” Rowe wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday.
Rowe, an outspoken supporter of the American job market who’s appeared in several Ford commercials and used to be a spokesman for the car company, said Ford’s decision “is a big, fat victory for anyone who wants to see America get back to the business of making things.”
Last February, Ford announced plans to double its manufacturing capacity in Mexico. The move was criticized by then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
“Mexico is going to be the car capital of the world,” Trump told Breitbart News. “Michigan is being decimated.”
On Tuesday, Ford CEO Mark Fields announced that the company has cancelled its plans to build a new plant in Mexico and will instead invest $700 million in Michigan—which will create 700 new American jobs, CNN reported.
Rowe says Ford’s shift away from Mexico to America may become a political issue, but advised his four million Facebook fans to “ignore” partisan people.
“Do me a favor — ignore these people,” he wrote. “They don’t know how to feel good about anything other than feeling bad. They don’t understand the value of justifiable optimism — or it’s importance.”
“Honestly, I don’t care what your politics are, or your opinion of NAFTA, The UAW, The New F-150, rich people, poor people, The Global Economy, or The President-Elect — this is good news, and sensible people should celebrate it,” Rowe wrote. “The company who invented mass production is once again betting on the future of America! What’s the worst part about that?”
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson