Trump media outsources jobs to Mexico despite Trump’s ‘America First’ slogan – ProPublica

Former President Donald Trump’s social network outsourced jobs to workers in Mexico, even as Trump publicly opposed outsourcing during the campaign and threatened hefty tariffs on companies that ship jobs south of the border.

The firm’s use of workers in Mexico was confirmed by a spokesperson for Trump Media, which operates the Truth Social platform. The workers were hired through another organization to write code and perform other technical duties, according to a person familiar with Trump Media. The use of foreign labor sparked outrage among the company’s employees, who accused management of betraying its “America First” ideals, the person said.

Outsourcing to Mexico helped spark a recent letter from employees to the Trump Media board of directors that has rattled the company.

This complaint ProPublica reported last monthcalls on the board to fire CEO Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman. The letter alleges he “seriously” mismanaged the company. It also claims the company is hiring “America last,” with Nunes introducing a directive to only hire foreign contractors at the expense of “American workers who are deeply committed to our mission.”

“This approach not only runs counter to the America First principles that we stand for, but also raises concerns about the quality, dedication, and alignment of our workforce with our core values,” the complaint states.

A Trump Media spokesman said the company uses “two separate employees” in Mexico. “Painting the fact that (Trump Media) works with exactly two specialized contractors in Mexico as some kind of sensational scandal is just the latest in a long line of defamatory conspiracy theories concocted by the serial fabricators at ProPublica,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesman declined to answer other questions about the company’s Mexican contractors, including how much they were paid, how much of them were used over time and how their hiring fits with Trump’s promises to punish firms that ship jobs outside the United States. The Trump campaign did not respond to questions.

For such a well-known company, Trump Media has a tiny full-time staff, employing just a few dozen people as of late last year, only a fraction of whom work on Truth Social’s technology.

Trump Media’s hiring of Mexican programmers also caused frustration among employees, with employees believing they did not have the technical knowledge to do the job, according to a person familiar with the company.

On your home page Truth Social bills itself as “Made in the United States of America.” ”

Both as president and during his campaign for a second term, Trump criticized companies that ship jobs overseas, especially to Mexico. If elected, he promised “stop outsourcing” And “punishcompanies that send jobs abroad.

For example, Trump recently threatened agricultural machinery giant John Deere with tariffs if it pursued plans to move some of its production to Mexico.

“I’m just putting John Deere on notice right now: If you do this, we will impose a 200 percent tariff on everything you want to sell into the United States,” Trump said.

He issued a similar threat to automakers making cars in Mexico, demanding that they hire American workers and produce cars domestically.

“I won’t let them build a factory right overseas,” Trump promised, “and sell millions of cars to the United States and continue to destroy Detroit.”

Trump owns nearly 60% of the social media company, a stake worth about $3.5 billion based on Friday’s closing stock price – more than half of the former president’s net worth.

Election results are widely seen as a major factor in a company’s future value. Trump Media’s share price has fluctuated wildly as the Nov. 5 election approaches, although little has changed in the company’s meager revenue-generating actual business. The stock closed Friday down 40% from its recent peak on Tuesday. Despite this drop, it has still nearly doubled since the beginning of October.

One Trump Media board member, Eric Swider, defended the use of foreign labor in a statement to ProPublica from his lawyer.

“President Trump is committed to an ‘America First’ policy that includes prioritizing American workers. Trump Media, however, is a global multimedia company. For a global multimedia company, the use of subcontractors, who in turn may use coders located in another country, is a common industry practice,” the statement said. “Global media companies like Trump Media will not have the right to control the hiring decisions of their subcontractors, who may employ workers in many different countries in addition to the United States.”

Swider, a Puerto Rican businessman, sits on the board alongside better-known figures such as Donald Trump Jr. and Linda McMahon, a former Trump Cabinet member who is now co-chair of his transition team.

Outsourcing to Mexico isn’t the only time Trump Media relies on foreign workers. ProPublica previously reported that the company used a foreign firm to source labor in the Balkans.

Nunez, for his part, is quoted in a new book on social truth:Disappearance of the President“, boasting of his ability to reduce costs at Trump Media, although he did not mention outsourcing.

“No one has grown as fast as we have. I don’t think there’s any other example even close to us, especially with as little money as we spent,” Nunez said. “Don’t forget about it. We built this for a fraction of what other companies were built for.”