President Obama is firing back at a commercial from Mitt Romney's campaign that says Chrysler will move production of its Jeep brand to China in a new ad released by his campaign Monday.
Team Obama did not release details about the ad, but it is expected to air in auto-heavy areas of Ohio, such as Toledo, where Romney's ad was running over the weekend.
In the commercial, Obama's campaign accuses Romney's ad of containing a "lie" about the potential outsourcing of Jeep production, pointing to a statement from the auto company that it will not shift production of the Jeep from the U.S. to China.
"When the auto industry faced collapse, Mitt Romney turned his back. And now after Romney's false claim of Jeep outsourcing to China, Chrysler itself has refuted Romney's lie. The truth? Chrysler is adding jobs," the ad says before playing a clip of Romney saying "Let Detroit go bankrupt," which is the title of an op-ed he wrote for the
New York Times in 2008.
"Mitt Romney on Ohio jobs: Wrong then, dishonest now," the Obama ad concludes.
The Romney ad points out that Chrysler is now owned by Italian automaker Fiat through a deal that was arranged by the Obama administration after the $80-billion auto bailout. The ad also repeats a disputed report that Fiat was planning to move production of the Jeep from the United States to China.
“Who will do more for the auto industry? Not Barack Obama,” a narrator says in Romney's commercial. “Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy and sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China. Mitt Romney will fight for every American job.”
Democrats have criticized the ad from Romney, pointing to a statement from the auto company that it will not shift production of the Jeep from the U.S. to China.
For more on the ad, click here.
