Trump-bashed Ford CEO: We are keeping our international plans despite Trump tariff plan

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Updated
"He had a difficult situation. He was told to develop an autonomous car. He's told to be a worldwide guy," Jim Cramer says.

Ford (F) CEO Mark Fields, whose company was bashed by then-candidate Donald Trump for moving jobs to Mexico, told CNBC on Tuesday the automaker will not change its plans to fit with the president-elect's positions on tariffs.

"We all share the same objective: We want a strong, vibrant U.S. economy," Fields said on Fast Money Halftime Report ."

During a campaign visit to Michigan in September, Trump slammed Ford's decision to move all small-car production to Mexico , calling it "horrible."

"They'll make their cars, they'll employ thousands and thousands of people not from this country and they'll sell the cars right through our border. No tax, no nothing, and we'll have nothing but more unemployment in Flint and in Michigan," he said in the speech in Flint.

Ford announced its plan in mid-September.

On Tuesday, Fields said the automaker will continue to focus on Mexico despite Trump's threats to impose tariffs on all vehicles built there and brought to the United States.

Such a tariff could impact the entire auto sector and economy, a risk the Republican administration would not want to take, Fields said.

There will be no change to the number of jobs Ford creates within the U.S. despite the company's push to expand its "global manufacturing footprint," Fields said.

As for Trump's view on the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, Fields said the company's strategy is laid out according to the international trade agreements the United States holds, and that most of its investments are in this country.

Trump has called NAFTA "the single worst trade deal ever approved in this country."

"Both the production and the supply chains are deeply integrated between the three countries, and that integration also supports a lot of American jobs," Fields said.

Ford reported a decline in October's U.S. sales of 11.7 percent earlier this month, lower than analysts' predictions of 10.9 percent.