Tag Archives: Jobs

U.S. jobless claims near 44-year-low as labor market tightens

Legal firm Hogan Lovells representative Nina LeClair (2nd R) talks to U.S. military veteran applicants (L) at a hiring fair for veteran job seekers and military spouses at the Verizon Center in Washington April 9, 2014. REUTERS/Gary Cameron

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to near a 44-year-low last week, pointing to further tightening of the labor market even as economic growth appears to have remained moderate in the first quarter.

The stronger labor market combined with rising inflation could push the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this month.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 223,000 for the week ended Feb. 25, the lowest level since March 1973, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Data for the prior week was revised to show 2,000 fewer applications received than previously reported.

It was the 104th straight week that claims remained below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labor market. That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labor market was much smaller. It is now at or close to full employment, with an unemployment rate of 4.8 percent.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new claims for unemployment benefits dipping to 243,000 in the latest week. Financial markets are already pricing in a rate hike at the Fed’s March 14-15 policy meeting.

U.S. stock index futures rose after the data on Thursday. The U.S. dollar <.DXY> also firmed against a basket of currencies, while prices for U.S. government debt fell.

A survey from the U.S. central bank on Wednesday showed the labor market remained tight in early 2017, with some of the Fed’s districts reporting “widening” labor shortages.

The government reported on Wednesday that the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index jumped 1.9 percent in the 12 months through January, the biggest gain since October 2012. The PCE price index increased 1.6 percent in December.

The core PCE, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, increased 1.7 percent, still below its 2 percent target.

TEPID GROWTH

A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing last week’s claims data. Only claims for Oklahoma were estimated.

The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 6,250 to 234,250 last week, the lowest reading since April 1973.

Data this week showed tepid growth in consumer spending in January, weak equipment and construction spending, and a wider goods trade deficit, suggesting the economy struggled to gain momentum early in the first quarter after slowing in the final three months of 2016.

The Atlanta Fed is forecasting first-quarter gross domestic product rising at a 1.8 percent annualized rate. The economy grew at a 1.9 percent pace in the fourth quarter.

Thursday’s claims report also showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid increased 3,000 to 2.07 million in the week ended Feb. 18. The four-week average of the so-called continuing claims edged up 750 to 2.07 million.

The continuing claims data covered the survey week for February’s unemployment rate. The four-week moving average of claims fell 21,500 between the January and February survey periods, suggesting an improvement in the jobless rate.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)

Exclusive: Trump says Republican border tax could boost U.S. jobs

The U.S. border with Mexico is seen in Nogales, Arizona, U.S., January 31, 2017. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday spoke positively about a border adjustment tax being pushed by Republicans in Congress as a way to boost exports, but he did not specifically endorse the proposal.

Trump, who has lashed out at U.S. companies for moving operations and jobs to countries such as Mexico, had previously sent mixed signals on the proposal at the heart of a sweeping Republican plan to overhaul the tax code.

“It could lead to a lot more jobs in the United States,” Trump told Reuters in an interview, using his most approving language to date on the proposal.

Trump sent conflicting signals about his position on the border adjustment tax in separate media interviews in January, saying in one interview that it was “too complicated” and in another that it was still on the table.

The proposal has divided American businesses. Critics say the planned 20 percent tax on imports could be passed along in higher prices to consumers, including manufacturers that rely on imported goods to make their products.

Some critics have warned of a potential global trade war which would sharply curtail U.S. and world economic growth.

Advocates say U.S. exporters will gain as their revenues will be excluded from federal taxes. They say the tax on imports will encourage domestic production and cause the already strong dollar to rise, offsetting upward pressure on import prices.

COMPANIES ‘TO COME BACK’

Trump has also called for a 35-percent border tax on U.S. companies that move jobs abroad and import products back into the U.S. market. It has been unclear in the past if those references referred to the border adjustment proposal.

“I certainly support a form of tax on the border,” he told Reuters on Thursday. “What is going to happen is companies are going to come back here, they’re going to build their factories and they’re going to create a lot of jobs and there’s no tax.”

White House spokesman Sean Spicer also came to the defense of border adjustment on Thursday, disputing the claim that it could lead to higher consumer prices. “That benefits our economy, it helps American workers, it grows the manufacturing base,” Spicer told reporters at a White House briefing.

The Mexican peso <MXN=> weakened slightly against the U.S. dollar immediately after Trump’s comments and was last trading at 19.68 per dollar. Earlier on Thursday, the Mexican currency hit its strongest level since Trump’s Nov. 8 election victory.

Stocks of retailers, which could be hurt by border adjustment, weakened on Wall Street after Trump’s remarks. The S&P 500 retailing index <.SPXRT> ended down 1 percent. Shares of Wal-Mart Stores <WMT.N> slipped and closed down 0.6 percent. Trump said his administration will tackle tax reform legislation after dealing with Obamacare, the health insurance system that his fellow Republicans have bashed since it was put in place in 2010 by his predecessor, President Barack Obama.

Earlier on Thursday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC the Trump administration aimed to formulate a tax plan with support from the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Senate and pass it before August.

BUSINESS DIVIDED

Lawmakers and corporate lobbyists say the border adjustment tax could die in Congress, potentially jeopardizing the prospects for tax reform, mainly because of opposition from a handful of Senate Republicans.

But experts say Trump’s endorsement could change the political climate. “If Trump supports it, that makes it considerably more likely,” Harvard Business School professor Mihir Desai told Reuters.

Trump’s comments were followed by dueling statements from lobbying groups.

A statement from the pro-border adjustment American Made Coalition said the White House was “sending its strongest signals yet that it’s leaning toward supporting the House blueprint with border adjustability.”

The Americans for Affordable Products coalition that opposes the border adjustment tax issued a statement saying Trump’s remarks were “consistent with what he’s already said” and that it was “impossible” to know if they were specific to any individual legislative policy.

Trump spoke to Reuters after meeting with more than 20 chief executives of major U.S. companies to discuss ways to return manufacturing jobs to the United States, one of the linchpins of his 2016 presidential campaign.

Many CEOs of large multinationals back the border adjustment tax. The chiefs of 16 companies, including Boeing Co <BA.N>, Caterpillar Inc <CAT.N> and General Electric Co <GE.N>, sent a letter to Congress on Tuesday urging support for it.

A border adjustment has emerged as the most controversial segment of the House Republican tax reform blueprint. Under the House plan, it would raise more than $1 trillion in revenues to help pay for a corporate tax cut.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by David Morgan, David Shepardson and Ginger Gibson in Washington and by Lewis Krauskopf in New York; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Paul Simao and Howard Goller)

Jobless claims up, four-week average lowest since 1973

FILE PHOTO: Job seekers apply for the 300 available positions at a new Target retail store in San Francisco, California August 9, 2012. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose slightly more than expected last week, but the four-week average of claims fell to its lowest level since 1973, pointing to strengthening labor market conditions.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 244,000 for the week ended Feb. 18, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Data for the prior week was revised to show 1,000 fewer applications received than previously reported.

It was the 103th straight week that claims remained below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labor market. That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labor market was much smaller. The labor market is at or close to full employment, with the unemployment rate at 4.8 percent.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new claims for unemployment benefits rising to 241,000 in the latest week.

The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 4,000 to 241,000 last week, the lowest reading since July 1973.

U.S. financial markets were little moved by the data.

Minutes of the Federal Reserve’s Jan. 31-Feb monetary policy meeting published on Wednesday showed that many policymakers believed another interest rate hike might be appropriate “fairly soon” if labor market and inflation data meet or beat expectations.

The U.S. central bank raised its benchmark overnight interest rate last December. It has forecast three rate increases this year.

A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing last week’s claims data. Claims for Wyoming, Virginia and Hawaii were estimated.

Last week’s claims report covered the survey period for the Labor Department’s nonfarm payrolls data for February. The four-week average of claims fell 6,500 between the January and February payrolls survey weeks. This suggests another month of strong job gains after payrolls increased 227,000 in January.

Thursday’s claims report also showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 17,000 to 2.06 million in the week ended Feb. 11. The four-week average of the so-called continuing claims declined 10,750 to 2.07 million.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

New York City mayor says ‘affordability crisis’ threatens city

New York Mayor

By Hilary Russ

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City is threatened by an “affordability crisis” because rising housing prices have significantly outpaced wage growth, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday.

De Blasio used his state of the city address to speak broadly about New Yorkers’ struggles to pay rent and make ends meet and discussed recent proposals, rather than lay out many new proposals.

De Blasio, a Democrat who took office in January 2014, is up for reelection in November.

Held at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem, home to numerous American musical legends including Billie Holiday, the program featured at least 45 minutes of introductory remarks that were a mostly a love story to the city’s diversity.

“So many people in this city are afraid they cannot stay in the city that they love,” because of high costs, de Blasio said.

De Blasio cited a long list of what he considers some of his biggest accomplishments, including the implementation of neighborhood policing and the highest ever four-year high-school graduation rate of 72.6 percent in 2016.

He said residents would hear in coming weeks more details of forthcoming proposals about homelessness, opioid addiction and the creation of more higher paying jobs, which he called the “next frontline.”

He said the city would strive to create 100,000 more permanent good jobs that pay at least $50,000 a year.

Last week, de Blasio released information about other proposals that he touched on in his speech, including ways to help seniors and low-income people afford housing by adding new units and providing more rental assistance.

He said previously that he would seek to add 10,000 apartments for households earning less than $40,000 a year, half of which would be reserved for seniors, while another 500 would be for veterans.

De Blasio referenced another element of the plan announced last week to help more than 25,000 older residents with rent of up to $1,300 a month through the city’s “mansion tax,” which he has proposed before.

“You will hear people say it cannot be done,” de Blasio said of the tax. “They will say you cannot get it through Albany,” using the state capital to refer to the state government, whose approval would be required for the tax.

The mansion tax would bring in $336 million on the sale of homes over $2 million, he said.

“We’re not going to give tax breaks to people doing well,” de Blasio said. “We’re going to ask them to do more.”

(Reporting by Hilary Russ; Editing by Leslie Adler)

U.S. jobless claims drop to near 43-year low

Applicants fill out forms at job fair

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to near a 43-year low, amid a further tightening of the labor market that could eventually spur faster wage growth.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 234,000 for the week ended Feb. 4, the Labor Department said on Thursday. That left claims just shy of the 43-year low of 233,000 touched in early November.

Claims have now remained below 300,000, a threshold associated with a strong labor market, for 101 straight weeks.

That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labor market was much smaller.

The labor market is at or close to full employment, with the unemployment rate at 4.8 percent. It hit a nine-year low of 4.6 percent in November.

Further tightening in labor market conditions could boost wage growth, which has remained stubbornly sluggish despite anecdotal evidence of more companies struggling to find qualified workers.

Lackluster wage growth, if sustained, could hurt consumer spending and crimp economic growth. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast first-time applications for jobless benefits rising to 250,000 in the latest week.

A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing last week’s data and no states had been estimated.

The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 3,750 to 244,250 last week, the lowest level since November 1973.

The claims report also showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid increased 15,000 to 2.08 million in the week ended Jan. 28. The four-week average of the so-called continuing claims fell 3,750 to 2.08 million.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)

((Lucia.Mutikani@thomsonreuters.com; 1 202 898 8315; Reuters

Messaging: lucia.mutikani.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Peru to give visas to thousands of crisis-weary Venezuelans

Peru's president in press conference saying venezuelans will get visas

LIMA (Reuters) – Peru has created a temporary visa that will allow thousands of Venezuelans to work and study in the country, part of a migratory policy that aims to “build bridges” and “not walls,” the Andean nation’s interior ministry said.

President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s government issued 20 temporary visas to Venezuelan migrants in Peru this week. Kuczysnki, a centrist, has expressed concern about shortages of food and medicine in Venezuela, mired in a deep economic crisis.

Some 6,000 Venezuelans are expected to receive the permit, which will allow them to study, work and receive health services in Peru for a year, the interior ministry said late on Thursday.

Peru has enjoyed nearly two decades of uninterrupted economic growth and single-digit inflation, a sharp contrast to socialist-led Venezuela, where the ranks of the poor have swollen in recent years.

“We want to offer a different message on migration than what’s offered in other places. We want to build bridges that unite us and not walls to separate us,” Interior Minister Carlos Basombrio said in a statement.

The comment appeared to be a thinly veiled shot at the new U.S. government, which is traditionally an ally of Peru.

U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed a temporary entry ban on refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, and insisted that Mexico will pay for his proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to curb illegal immigration.

Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker and free-trade advocate who took office last year, has previously compared Trump’s proposed border wall to the Berlin Wall, and said he would oppose it in the United Nations.

Kuczynski and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said last week that they would stand with Mexico and seek to strengthen regional trade, in the wake of rising tensions between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Trump.

(Reporting by Mitra Taj; Editing by Paul Simao)

U.S. job growth beats expectations in January, wages soft

Job seekers

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. job growth surged more than expected in January as construction firms and retailers ramped up hiring, which likely gives the Trump administration a head start as it seeks to boost the economy and employment.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 227,000 jobs last month, the largest gain in four months, the Labor Department said on Friday. But the unemployment rate rose one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.8 percent and wages increased modestly, suggesting that there was still some slack in the labor market.

Revisions to November and December showed the economy created 39,000 fewer jobs than previously reported. Still, the labor market continues to tighten, which could soon spur a faster pace of wage growth. Federal Reserve officials view the labor market as being at or near full employment.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls rising 175,000 last month and the unemployment rate unchanged at 4.7 percent.

President Donald Trump vowed during last year’s election campaign to deliver 4 percent annual gross domestic product growth, largely on the back of a plan to cut taxes, reduce regulations, increase infrastructure spending and renegotiate trade deals in the United States’ favor.

Although details on the policy proposals remain sketchy, consumer and business confidence have surged in the wake of Trump’s election victory last November. But with the economy near full employment, some economists are skeptical of the 4 percent growth pledge. Annual GDP growth has not exceeded 2.6 percent since the 2007-08 recession.

DISAPPOINTING WAGE GROWTH

Average hourly earnings increased only three cents or 0.1 percent last month. December’s wage gain was revised down to 0.2 percent from the previously reported 0.4 percent increase.

January’s small rise in average hourly earnings is a surprise given that the minimum wage took effect in more than a dozen states last month. The small gain lowered the year-on-year increase in earnings to 2.5 percent from 2.8 percent in December.

Sluggish wage growth, if it persists, would suggest only a gradual pace of rate increases by the Fed. The U.S. central bank, which hiked rates in December, has forecast three rate increases this year.

On Wednesday, the Fed kept its benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged in a range of 0.50 percent to 0.75 percent. It said it expected labor market conditions would strengthen “somewhat further.”

With its January employment report, the government published its annual “benchmark” revisions and updated the formulas it uses to smooth the data for regular seasonal fluctuations. It also incorporated new population estimates.

The government said the level of employment in March of last year was 60,000 lower than it had reported. As the labor market nears full employment, the pool of workers is shrinking, which is slowing job growth.

The shift in population controls mean figures on the labor force or number of employed or unemployed in January are not directly comparable with December.

The labor force participation rate, or the share of working-age Americans who are employed or at least looking for a job, was at 62.9 percent in January, the highest level since September.

All sectors of the economy added jobs in January.

Manufacturing payrolls increased by 5,000 jobs, rising for a second straight month as the oil-related drag on the sector eases. Construction employment jumped 36,000, the largest increase since March, likely boosted by warm weather, after December’s paltry 2,000 gain.

Retail payrolls, surprisingly surged 45,900, the biggest rise since February. Retailers, including Macy’s <M.N>, Sears <SHLD.O>, American Apparel and Abercrombie & Fitch <ANF.N> announced job cuts in January amid store closures. Department store sales are being undercut by online retailers, led by Amazon.com <AMZN.O>.

Government employment fell for a fourth straight month in January. Further declines are likely after the Trump administration enforced a hiring freeze on civilian federal government workers on Jan. 22.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Momentum and risk: world economy enters 2017 with winds fore and aft

employee in factory

By Jonathan Cable and Nichola Saminather

LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Factories across the world fired up – or at least kept up activity – in January with some registering multi-year output highs, just as a barrage of political risks threatens the global economy with potential harm.

Rising protectionism from the United States, concerns over how Britain’s negotiations on leaving the European Union will pan out, and national elections in Europe’s largest economies all lie ahead.

But entering 2017, economic growth gathered momentum, according to surveys released on Wednesday, following on from last year thanks to a bounce in consumption.

Euro zone factories registered the fastest activity rate for nearly six years, China’s activity expanded for the sixth month and Japanese manufacturing growth was the fastest in almost three years.

Even in Britain, where a slump in sterling since the June referendum stoked the sharpest rise in factory costs on record last month, growth remained robust.

There were also signs of growth in Brazil, where industrial output rose in December at its fastest monthly pace in 2-1/2 years after one of the worst years on record.

“So far momentum is pretty strong heading into 2017,” said Jacqui Douglas at TD Securities. “But political risks are definitely one of the biggest this year and given the surprises we had through 2016 it’s really hard to tell what’s in store.”

Among unexpected events last year was Britain’s vote to leave the EU and the election as U.S president of Donald Trump, both seen as the result of anti-establishment anger among voters who feel left out of the wealth of nations.

Signs of concern this may spread could be found on bond markets. The premium investors demand to hold France’s government debt rather than that of similar economies shot up on so-called Frexit fears – the possibility that the far-right National Front might win the presidential election and try to take the country out of the euro zone.

IHS Markit’s final manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for the currency bloc rose to 55.2 in January from December’s 54.9, its highest since April 2011. A Markit/CIPS UK factory PMI edged down to 55.9 from December’s 2-1/2 year peak of 56.1, matching the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll.

Anything above 50 indicates growth.

A similar survey for the United States due later on Wednesday is expected to show factories in the world’s largest economy also increased activity.

TOKYO TEMPERING TRUMP

A stronger dollar helped major economies such as Japan, where export orders surged, Markit/Nikkei PMI numbers showed, a welcome sign for the economy along with recent data suggesting a more durable recovery may be underway.

However, those encouraging signals sit uncomfortably with the growing threat from Trump’s trade policies. Japan is moving to temper the risks with plans to show Trump its firms are ready to create U.S. jobs, according to a document whose contents were revealed to Reuters.

In export-reliant Asia, and other regions where global supply chains are closely interlinked, Trump’s election is a particular risk to both world trade and broad economic growth if the new president follows though on his “America First” policies.

“The uncertainty surrounding future market access to the U.S. is bound to weigh on investment activity as companies await regulatory certainty,” said Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian economic research at HSBC in Hong Kong.

“I suspect there’s going to be a lot of capital expenditure expansion projects that will be put on hold as long as the uncertainty surrounding the trade environment persists.”

In China, the world’s second-biggest economy, growth was led by an investment and construction boom that has helped spur global growth. Its official PMI stood at 51.3 in January, slowing marginally from 51.4 in December.

Analysts question whether Chinese growth will be sustainable once the impact of earlier stimulus begins to wear off and if the property market cools. They warn a slowdown in the Asian economic powerhouse could ripple across the region and beyond.

“Within China, we expect that real estate will slow down, because the government is quite keen to contain housing prices,” said Louis Kuijs, head of Asia economics at Oxford Economics in Hong Kong.

Other regional economies like Indonesia showed positive momentum in manufacturing activity, while Indian factory activity returned to modest growth in January, bouncing from a contraction in December triggered by the government’s scrapping of high value banknotes.

Even in laggard South Korea where manufacturing contracted for the sixth straight month, exports rose at the fastest pace in nearly five years.

“We remain quite cautious how much of an acceleration in growth we can see in this pretty challenging climate,” Oxford Economics’ Kuijs said.

“Things like PMI are timely indicators of the hard data but sometimes they do run ahead, and the improvement in actual data doesn’t materialize.”

(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

U.S. jobless claims rise, labor market still tightening

Applicants fill out applications for jobs

WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose more than expected lastcweek, but the underlying trend remained consistent withctightening labor market conditions.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increasedc22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 259,000 for the week ended Jan. 21, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims for the prior week were revised to show 3,000 more applications received than previously reported.

Claims have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labor market, for 99 consecutive weeks. That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labor market was much smaller.

Last week’s data included the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, which could have impacted on the data. Claims tend to be volatile around this time of the year because of different timings of the various holidays.

The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 2,000 to 245,500 last week, the lowest since November 1973.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast first-time applications for jobless benefits rising to 247,000 in the latest week. A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing last week’s data and no states had been estimated.

The labor market is viewed as being at or close to full employment, with the unemployment rate near a nine-year low of 4.7 percent. With the labor market tightening, wage growth is picking up, which should provide a boost to the economy through strong consumer spending and a continued housing market recovery.

Thursday’s claims report also showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid increased 41,000 to 2.1 million in the week ended Jan. 14.

The four-week average of the so-called continuing claims fell 1,250 to 2.1 million. The continuing claims data covered the survey week for January’s unemployment rate.

The four-week average of claims increased 49,000 between the December and January survey weeks, suggesting little change in the unemployment rate this month.

(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

((Lucia.Mutikani@thomsonreuters.com; 1 202 898 8315; Reuters

Messaging: lucia.mutikani.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Trump calls for more U.S. auto jobs, factories ahead of CEO meeting

Ford logo

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday will push the chief executives of General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to increase production in the United States and boost American employment.

“I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here!” Trump said in a tweet ahead of the breakfast meeting with automakers, saying he would discuss U.S. jobs with the chief executives.

Trump has criticized automakers for building cars in Mexico and elsewhere and has threatened to impose 35 percent tariffs on imported vehicles.

The meeting is the latest sign of Trump’s uncommon degree of intervention for a U.S. president into corporate affairs as he has repeatedly jawboned automakers and other manufacturers to “buy American and hire American.”

It will be the first time the CEOs of the big three automakers meet jointly with a U.S. president since a July 2011 session with then-president Barack Obama to tout a deal to nearly double fuel efficiency standards to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Fiat Chrysler is the Italian-American parent of the former Michigan-based Chrysler.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Monday said Trump “looks forward to hearing their ideas about how we can work together to bring more jobs back to this industry.”

U.S. and foreign automakers have been touting plans to boost American jobs and investments in the face of Trump’s comments. The Republican president made attacks on Ford’s Mexico investments a cornerstone of his campaign.

Automakers have praised Trump’s policies, but emphasized that the recent employment moves were the result of business, not political decisions, that had mostly been in the works for a long period.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)