Trump meets with manufacturing group

Washington — President Donald Trump is talking up his efforts to boost American manufacturing.

Trump met with the National Association of Manufacturers on Friday at the White House to publicize a new survey from the group. The survey found more than 93 percent of members polled now have a positive outlook on their companies, up from less than 57 percent this time last year.

NAM president Jay Timmons says the number is the highest in the quarterly survey’s 20 years history — though only 420 manufacturers responded.

Among those meeting with Trump was Doug Magyari, CEO of Troy-based of IMMY Inc., which has developed wearable virtual-reality glasses. He said his company had made a commitment to manufacture in the U.S. and that he appreciated what Trump was doing to facilitate that.

Trump said, “We have a lot of plants going up now in Michigan that were never going to be there. If I didn’t win this election, those plants would never even think about coming back. They were gone.”

He then asked Magyari if he had been thinking of “getting out.”

Magyari said, “I wouldn’t abandon the United States under any circumstances.” But he said that Michigan had had a “rough go,” and that the things Trump was doing and a lot of initiatives were “really bringing Michigan back.”