Bill Ford’s Struggle to Stay Friends With Donald Trump
- Auto scion Bill Ford becomes phone friends with new president
- Travel ban hit home at company in America’s Muslim capital
Rattner: Proud of Ford for Speaking Out Against Trump
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Few corporate chieftains seem to have cultivated President Donald Trump quite like Bill Ford.
It had been a rough start, with Trump blasting Ford Motor Co. for building cars in Mexico. But Bill Ford, the executive chairman, pushed ahead, determined to forge a relationship with the new president. When Ford canceled a new $1.6 billion plant in Mexico, winning Trump’s praise and suggesting his tough talk about jobs was working, the friendship seemed sealed. Trump now calls the 59-year-old Bill Ford “my friend,” and the two speak regularly by phone about taxes, currencies and trade.