Trump’s claims on auto industry hyperbolic but not entirely untrue

President Donald Trump included a shout-out to Detroit’s auto industry in his State of the Union address on Wednesday last week, saying he “halted government mandates that crippled America’s great, beautiful autoworkers, so we can get the Motor City revving its engines once again.”

Michigan’s auto companies had been in the middle of a resurgence before Trump was elected in November 2016, having had record sales and seven years of growth after General Motors and Chrysler were steered through structured bankruptcies — and aided by billions in federal investment — by former President Barack Obama’s administration.