HOUSTON (AP) – President Donald Trump on Monday praised Exxon Mobil Corp. after the company announced plans to create thousands of jobs by spending $20 billion over 10 years on refineries, chemical and liquefied natural gas plants along the Gulf Coast.
Exxon said the work would create 12,000 permanent jobs – Exxon currently has about 71,000 employees – and 35,000 construction jobs.
Trump went on Twitter to congratulate the company, saying that “Buy American & hire American are the principals at the core of my agenda,” although he apparently meant that those are among his principles.
In his third tweet on Exxon, Trump wrote, “45,000 construction & manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. $20 billion investment. We are already winning again, America!”
In December, Trump plucked Exxon’s then-CEO, Rex Tillerson, to be his secretary of state.