2017.06.2100:05:00UTC+00Ford to Relocate Focus Production to China

Ford Motor Co. said the manufacturing of its Focus compact made for the U.S. will be moved to China, rather than Mexico, as the U.S. car maker looks to cut costs globally despite pressure from the Trump administration to keep jobs domestically.

Last year, the automaker said it would shift its Focus production to Mexico in 2018. But in the plan publicized yesterday, the manufacturing of the car in Michigan would reach its end next year and Ford would start importing Focuses from China in the second half of 2019.

The firm said establishing the next-generation Focus in the country rather than its plant in Hermosillo Mexico will cut its cost by $500 million. The carmaker is following the steps of its rival to lower costs amid slumping U.S. sales and increasing expenses associated to technology investments, both of which are weighing on profits.

Trump, whose administration has pressured firms producing in Mexico as it renegotiates the NAFTA trade, had no immediate public reaction to the company's decision.