Factory Jobs Still Head Offshore Despite Trump Promises

In an election year in which millions have lost their jobs to a pandemic, Amy Sabo is an exception. Her 22 years at International Automotive Components’ plant in Huron, Ohio, ended in August thanks to the sort of corporate consolidation and offshoring that have been eating at the state’s industrial core for decades, rather than the economic carnage caused by Covid-19. That she lost her paycheck because of pre-pandemic decisions made by a company founded by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and still controlled by the private equity firm bearing his name also makes her a particularly stark example of how President Donald Trump has struggled to live up to his promise to end a decades-long migration of American factories overseas.

On Oct. 31, IAC’s Huron plant will close its doors for good, its production having been transferred to factories in Mexico and other locales. The dozen employees left—including Sabo’s husband—will join the almost 300 who have lost their jobs since the plant’s closure was announced just after Christmas last year. “It was a good place to work,” says Sabo, ticking off the generous benefits, decent pay, and shop-floor camaraderie. “We were like a family.”