The Chinese factory that opened in the U.S. and clobbered its rivals

President Trump has pressured trading partners for investment in U.S. manufacturing plants. What if local industries can’t compete?

- Gavin Bade

Competition from the Fuyao Glass America plant is threatening 250 jobs at a rival glass factory operating since the 1950s.

(AP)

President Trump spent much of last year courting foreign investment in US. factories, promising to replace jobs lost to the global economy. The rise of a Chinese automotive glass plant in the Ohio heartland shows the risks when America’s biggest rival sets up shop.

Ohio's governor, along with state and federal lawmakers, welcomed Fuyao when the Chinese glassmaking giant took over a closed General Motors factory a decade ago. The project, supported by Ohio taxpayers, was hailed as a step to reviving a battered Rust Belt region. Now, many feel duped.

Competition from the Fuyao Glass America plant is threatening about 250 jobs at a rival glass factory operating since the 1950s. Vitro, the company that owns the longtime plant in Crestline, Ohio, has spent the past year considering whether to shut down, said Carlos Bernal, Vitro’s head of automotive glass.

After announcing plans to close the Vitro plant at the end of 2026, the company told employees last month it would continue operating. Yet the plant’s long-term future is uncertain. Since 2019, Vitro has shut three auto-glass plants in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Indiana—decisions the company attributes in large part to Chinese competition.

The entry of Chinese firms into the U.S. auto industry “not only threatens the safety and security of domestic supply chains,” Bernal said, the companies “jeopardize entire communities that rely on American manufacturing jobs.

Rivals say they can’t match Fuyao’s lower prices and allege the company employs unfair business and labor practices. The Chinese company supplies GM, Ford, Stel-lantis and other automakers in the US.