With three weeks to go until 2024's Election Day, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign highlighted a remark made by former President Donald Trump during a sit-down interview at the Economic Club of Chicago in Illinois on Oct. 15, 2024.
While talking about bringing jobs back to the U.S. and recalling a discussion with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump mentioned to his interviewer, Bloomberg News editor-in-chief John Micklethwait, the names of several automakers, specifically a Mercedes-Benz plant located in Charleston, South Carolina, and said that their auto workers don't "build" vehicles as much as they "assemble" them "out of a box." He added, "We could have a child do it."
Trump's exact quote read:
I said to Angela Merkel when she was there, she's not there anymore. I wonder why. But when she was there, I said, "Angela, how many Chevrolets do we have in Berlin?" "Why Donald, we have none." I said, "That's right. How many Fords do we have in Frankfurt?" "I don't know. None." I said, "That's right. You know how many cars we have, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, all of the Volkswagen, millions and millions of cars." And then I said, "Farm products." They don't want anything from us.
And we have deficits that are crazy, and we're not going to have them anymore. We are going to put tariffs on them, and they're going to do, you know what they can do? The Mercedes-Benz will start building in the United States, and they have a little bit. But you know what they really are? Assembly, like in South Carolina. But they build everything in Germany and then they assemble it here. They get away with murder because they say, "Oh yes, we're building cars." They don't build cars. They take them out of a box and they assemble them. We could have a child do it.
BMW — another German automaker — also operates BMW Group Plant Spartanburg in Greer, South Carolina. The plant's website said the facilities assemble a variety of different cars.
Readers can read through the entire interview transcript on Rev.com and watch the sit-down in this C-SPAN video. The comment in question begins at the 14:22 mark.
Harris Campaign Response
On the same day as Trump's interview with the Economic Club of Chicago, the Harris campaign's rapid response account posted an 18-second video from the function on X, specifically featuring Trump's remark about assembling vehicles.
The Harris campaign's post (archived) read, "Trump belittles auto workers, saying they just assemble parts 'out of a box' and says children could do their jobs: 'We could have our child do it.'"
However, this video omitted the first part of the sentence in which Trump signaled his remark concerned the Charleston-based Mercedes-Benz plant. The clip also omitted the context of the discussion with Merkel, showing Trump's distaste with his view of the level of trade involving other countries.
In the brief video posted by the Harris campaign account, Trump said only, "United States, and they have a little bit. But you know what they really are? Assembly, like in South Carolina. But they build everything in Germany and then they assemble it here. They get away with murder because they say, 'Oh yes, we're building cars.' They don't build cars. They take them out of a box and they assemble them. We could have a child do it."
Three days later, on Oct. 18, the @kamalahq account highlighted the fact that Harris spoke about the matter while addressing the media prior to a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan (archived). In her comments, she claimed that Trump's remark about auto workers' jobs at the Mercedes-Benz plant in South Carolina applied to auto workers in Michigan, too. Trump mentioned Michigan during the interview but not in the same line of questioning as the comment in question.
She said, "Again, we have a situation where the former president is insulting the people of the state, this time saying that auto workers, that their important and good and highly-skilled work can be performed by a child, which is just further evidence that Donald Trump comes from a place where he really does not appreciate or understand how most people in our country work very hard for all that they have, and that there is great dignity in their work."
We contacted the Trump campaign by email to ask about the Harris campaign's messaging in regard to the former president's comment at the Economic Club of Chicago, and will update this story if we receive a response.
Responses from Mercedes-Benz, Trump Campaign and BMW
On Oct. 18, the Charleston newspaper The Post and Courier reported the area's Mercedes-Benz plant assembles Sprinter vans. LaKashia Johnson, the communications lead at Mercedes-Benz Vans Charleston, told the newspaper that, since 2018, the plant's workers have assembled the vehicles part by part and not just out of a box. "You could not get a child to assemble these vans," Johnson said. We contacted Johnson by email to ask for more details but did not yet receive a response.
The article also featured a response from a Trump campaign spokesperson:
Rachel Reisner, the director of regional communications for the Trump Campaign, told The Post and Courier that Trump's "commonsense trade policies" would bring millions of additional jobs to the nation, along with the thousands that already exist in South Carolina.
"President Trump wants to grow manufacturing in America that keeps the jobs we have and adds more jobs for American workers," Reisner said.
Meanwhile, WSPA-TV in Spartanburg, South Carolina, reported that Nathalie Bauters, head of corporate communications for BMW Manufacturing, issued a statement without mentioning Trump by name:
BMW Group Plant Spartanburg is proud of its 30-year legacy in South Carolina. We have an eight-million-square-foot facility comprising three body shops, two paint shops, and two assembly halls. We recently added a metal stamping facility to produce body panels. These technologically advanced manufacturing operations represent an investment of more than $13 billion. Our 11,000 highly skilled associates complete 1,500 finished vehicles daily — and 400,000 each year — with parts from hundreds of suppliers across the United States. Our BMW X models are some of the most complex vehicles in the world, and they are desired by customers everywhere. Plant Spartanburg has been one of the largest automotive exporters by value in the United States for the past ten years, with an export value of $10.1 billion. We export more vehicles from the United States than we import into the country. Plant Spartanburg generates a total economic impact of $26.7 billion to our state while supporting nearly 43,000 jobs and $3.1 billion in wages and salaries.
Reaction from State and Local Officials
Local reporting from The Post and Courier, WSPA-TV and the Columbia, South Carolina-based newspaper The State featured additional reaction from state and local officials.
For example, The State published a quote from the office of South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster:
Brandon Charochak, a spokesperson for S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster, said Trump's aim is to see more parts made in the state and bring more manufacturing to the nation.
"The talent of South Carolina's autoworkers is undeniable and has been key in attracting the world's top automakers to our state," Charochak said.
At the local level, The Post and Courier reported that Trump's comment "upset" a Republican city councilman:
Spartanburg County Councilman David Britt, a Republican, was upset by Trump's remarks. He lit into the former president, saying Trump was playing politics with people's lives and invited him to help put a BMW car together.
"I'm gonna let (Trump) install one of the windows if he thinks an elementary kid or child could do it," Britt said. "I'll guarantee you he can't do it."
We contacted several sources mentioned in this story and will update this article if we receive any further details.