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By Vivian Salama 

WASHINGTON -- President Trump took a swipe at a pair of corporate giants on Saturday as part of his continuing push to have U.S. companies boost their employment and production activities domestically.

In a first tweet, Mr. Trump called on General Motors Co. to "act quickly" to reopen its now-defunct Lordstown, Ohio, plant as a means of boosting domestic profits.

GM announced in November that it would cut up to 14,800 jobs and close four U.S. plants as well as one in Ontario, Canada. It closed its Lordstown plant last week as part of a major overhaul that will focus on making trucks, SUVs and electric and autonomous vehicles.

"Because the economy is so good, General Motors must get their Lordstown, Ohio, plant open, maybe in a different form or with a new owner, FAST!" Mr. Trump wrote. "Toyota is investing 13.5 $Billion in U.S., others likewise. G.M. MUST ACT QUICKLY. Time is of the essence!"

GM declined to comment.

GM's planned restructuring could have political reverberations in 2020. Michigan and Ohio are swing states that could prove critical in Mr. Trump's re-election bid. His advisers are banking on job growth and a strong economy to help drive the effort, and moves such as GM's could undermine that.

Mr. Trump will travel to Ohio on Wednesday to highlight his investments in military spending with a visit to a tank-manufacturing facility, and to raise money for his re-election bid.

In another tweet, Mr. Trump accused Alphabet Inc.'s Google of "helping China and their military." His comments follow testimony by Marine Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that Google, by trying to increase its business in China, was working indirectly or even directly counter to U.S. interests.

"The work that Google is doing in China is indirectly benefiting the Chinese military," Gen. Dunford told the committee.

Mr. Trump has frequently criticized Google and other web giants for a "bias" toward Democrats -- an allegation he reiterated in his tweet on Saturday.

"Google is helping China and their military, but not the U.S. Terrible!" he said. "The good news is that they helped Crooked Hillary Clinton, and not Trump....and how did that turn out?"

Google said in a statement it isn't working with the Chinese military. "We are working with the U.S. government, including the Department of Defense, in many areas including cybersecurity, recruiting and healthcare."

The president was at the White House and had no public events on Saturday.

--Mike Colias contributed to this article.

Write to Vivian Salama at vivian.salama@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 16, 2019 20:56 ET (00:56 GMT)

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