DEARBORN, MI—Admitting he had spent many sleepless nights afraid he would never make things right with the American people, Ford CEO James Hackett expressed worry Wednesday he might not bring back any of the jobs he had shipped outside the country. “It’s been a few years now since I moved production of the Ford Focus to China, and I’m terrified I may simply choose never to return those skilled positions to workers here in Michigan,” said Hackett, voicing concerns echoed by many distressed CEOs across the manufacturing sector who, despite receiving permanent corporate tax cuts under the Trump administration, have not yet moved a single job back to their local economies from Latin America or Asia. “People were promised those jobs were coming back. I’m worried that may have been a lot of empty talk to make Americans feel better. We’ve always said that if we were able to lower wages and get a lower tax rate, we could do it, but I just don’t think I’m going to.” Hackett added that even more upsetting than the lack of good-paying job opportunities returning to the United States was the fact that he would face zero consequences for his inaction.

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