Nominee’s words clash with own business dealings
MEXICO CITY — With a panel of senators questioning him, billionaire investor Wilbur L. Ross stayed on message: If confirmed as President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, he would protect American workers and tear up bad trade deals that harmed U.S. industry.
And yet, for more than a decade, those same trade deals helped Ross amass a fortune across the globe — in countries like Mexico and China, among others. In fact, Ross has sometimes invested overseas in ways that Trump condemns.
As the head of an auto parts company, Ross shipped jobs to Mexico, taking advantage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he now says is unfair and must be renegotiated. That company, along with a textile firm he founded, publicly stated that Mexico was central to their growth.
To some of his former associates, that history clangs against the persistent message of Trump, who has called NAFTA “the single worst trade deal ever approved in this country” and has excoriated U.S. businesses for sending jobs overseas.
But a spokesman for Ross described his experience as an asset, not a contradiction.
“As a private businessman, Mr. Ross made pragmatic decisions based on the rules of the road at the time, and it is precisely his knowledge of how trade deals work that will allow him to be successful in renegotiating bad deals like NAFTA,” said the spokesman, James Rockas.
The Senate is scheduled to vote Monday on Ross’ confirmation. In his new role, if confirmed, Ross, 79, will be tasked with increasing exports to help create U.S. jobs.
Ross has made extensive investments in the auto industry south of the U.S. border.
When Ross acquired an auto parts factory in Carlisle, Pa., a decade ago, he took a hard line with the union, demanding cuts in wages and benefits, according to Doug Carey, who was the president of Local 1739 of Unite-Here. When the union rejected the demand, Ross shut the plant down, Carey said.
“Wilbur Ross — there’s no way he cares about the worker,” said Stacey Foltz, who worked at the plant.