Ford Motor Company has received a $250 million loan guarantee in an effort to double exports over the next five years. The money, given by the Export-Import Bank of the U.S., will finance $3.1 billion of export sales of approximately 200,000 cars.
News of the financing came as President Obama visited a Ford assembly plant in Chicago, which is set to employ a further 1,200 people. Last week, Obama paid a visit to General Motors and Chrysler, the two companies that received most of the $85 billion in government aid from Obama and the administration of his predecessor, George W Bush.
Without this aid, Obama said, both companies would have gone under, dragging down the entire industry including suppliers and Ford.