President Donald Trump talks about jobs to employees at the Boeing factory in North Charleston, S.C., on February 17. Boeing announced it is cutting 200 jobs at the location. File Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo

June 23 (UPI) -- Boeing announced it will cut 200 positions at a South Carolina plant where President Donald Trump gave a speech promising he would create jobs.

Boeing said the layoffs are part of a plan announced in December 2016 to better compete with its French rival, Airbus. By the time of that announcement, the company had cut about 5,000 jobs throughout the year.


"We are all aware of the need to be more competitive in a relentlessly challenging industry," Joan Robinson-Berry, vice president and general manager of Boeing South Carolina, told employees in a memo Thursday morning, according to the Post and Courier. "Our competitors do not rest in their drive to win sales campaigns and neither can we ... While we understand the business need, it doesn't make this action any easier."

In January, Trump told Boeing workers in South Carolina that he would bring back manufacturing jobs by preventing American companies from sending jobs overseas.

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"On every front, we are going to work for the American people. Nowhere in our focus -- and I mean this so strongly --- and our focus has to be so strong, but my focus has been all about jobs," he said. "And jobs is one of the primary reasons I'm standing here today as your president, and I will never, ever disappoint you. Believe me. I will not disappoint you."

The job cuts won't go into effect immediately.

Workers scheduled to be laid off will be given a 60-day notice on Friday and Boeing said fortunes could change before the notice period is up.

"The numbers in two months could be lower than what they are today," a Boeing spokesman said.