Why Trump Boycotting Oreos Should Please Northeast Philly
Donald Trump is no fan of American jobs moving to Mexico — and he likely has some support for that sentiment in Northeast Philadelphia.
Trump decided to boycott Oreos after Mondelēz International announced it will move product lines in Chicago to a facility in Salinas, Mexico. The company is cutting 600 jobs in Chicago.
“I’m never eating Oreos again,” Trump said according to a number of media outlets. He also compared Mexico to another country he’s not too fond of these days: China (which devalued its currency and sent the stock market into upheaval earlier this week.) Trump said he would consider going back to Oreos if they were made in the United States.
If the name Mondelēz sounds familiar, it should. It’s the company that closed a long-running plant on Roosevelt Blvd., permanently removing that sweet cookie smell from Somerton, Bustleton and Parkwood.
The closure of the former Kraft and Nabisco plant left more than 300 people unemployed and led U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle to make a passionate speech on the House floor urging people to “Say No to Oreo.”
“The company that makes Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers, two very well-known American brands, decided that for the first time in 60 years, they would close their legendary Philadelphia plant in the heart of my district, laying off over 300 workers because they’re shipping the jobs to Monterrey, Mexico,” said Boyle during his speech in early July.
But don’t expect Mondelēz to stop its cost-cutting agenda anytime soon. The company lags behind competitors in terms of profit margins — 12 percent to about 18.5 percent, says the Wall Street Journal. Plus, the company has an activist investor — William Ackman (now owner of 7.5 percent of the company) who’s putting pressure on management to cut costs even further.
