President Donald Trump, left, listens during a Strategic and Policy Forum meeting with business leaders and White House advisors in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Feb. 3, 2017.

DETROIT – President Donald Trump on Friday attacked General Motors for its significant presence in China and questioned whether the automaker should move the operations to the U.S.

Trump, in a tweet, said GM, "once the Giant of Detroit, is now one of the smallest auto manufacturers there. They moved major plants to China, BEFORE I CAME INTO OFFICE. This was done despite the saving help given them by the USA. Now they should start moving back to America again?"

Tweet

Many of the claims in the tweet against the Detroit automaker were misleading or inaccurate, according to industry data and officials.

GM remains the largest automaker in the U.S. by sales, however it has been surpassed by crosstown rivals Ford Motor and Fiat Chrysler in the number of union-represented American workers it employs. Overall, GM says it employs nearly 100,000 people in the U.S. at 132 locations in 27 states.

GM declined to comment directly on the tweet, which comes a day after Bloomberg News reported GM's 46,000 UAW workers trails Ford by about 9,000 and Fiat Chrysler by roughly 1,200.

The tweet also comes a week after China announced it would reimpose a 25% tariff later this year on American vehicles entering the country as part of the ongoing trade war with the U.S.