MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro accuses Ford of closing its plants because “they want subsidies”

Bolsonaro criticized the decision of past administrations to subsidize the industry with taxpayer money and lamented the loss of 5,000 jobs in the country.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro attributed Ford Motor Co.’s decision to close its three plants in Brazil to the end of multibillion-dollar subsidies from the government.

“What does Ford want? Ford has yet to tell the truth, right? They want subsidies,” Bolsonaro said during a talk with supporters recorded on video and published on social media.

Bolsonaro criticized the decision of past administrations to subsidize the industry with taxpayer money and lamented the loss of 5,000 jobs in the country.

On Monday, Ford said it would close its plants in Brazil this year, two of them immediately, and take pretax charges of about US$ 4.1 billion as the COVID-19 pandemic amplified the company’s underutilization of its manufacturing capacity.

Ford officials said the action was part of the US$11 billion global restructuring previously forecast by the U.S. automaker.