A heated exchange has erupted between a top White House official and one of South Carolina’s biggest employers.
President Donald Trump’s Senior Trade Advisor, Peter Navarro, recently criticized BMW Manufacturing in Spartanburg, calling its operations a “scam.” The automaker is now pushing back hard against the remarks.
BMW defended its role in the state, highlighting that its Spartanburg plant is the largest BMW facility in the world and a major economic contributor to South Carolina.
Navarro made his controversial comments during an interview with Fox News’s Laura Ingraham. “What we’re doing now is a scam—BMW comes to Spartanburg, South Carolina, and all we do is assemble German transmissions and autos,” Navarro said. “They get all the good jobs, they get all the good profits, and we’re left with the leftovers.”
BMW swiftly responded, emphasizing that its Spartanburg plant employs around 11,000 skilled workers, produces 1,500 Sports Activity Vehicles daily, and has invested over $14.8 billion in the region since 1992.
“In 2024 alone, the Spartanburg facility exported roughly 225,000 BMWs, with a total export value exceeding $10 billion,” a BMW spokesperson stated. “This makes it the largest automotive exporter by value in the U.S.”
Spartanburg County Councilman David Britt also criticized Navarro’s remarks, expressing his frustration in an interview with WSPA-TV. “
He’s probably never even stepped foot in a manufacturing plant. If I took him to Tindall and asked him to pour concrete, he might not know the difference between a shovel and a rake,” Britt said.
BMW also pointed out that it exports more vehicles from the U.S. than it imports into the country, further underscoring its economic impact.
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