By Sherrod Brown

U.S. Senate

The rest of the world is finally recognizing what the people of Ohio already know – Ohio workers are the future of the auto industry.

Honda saw that future when they decided to build a new battery plant in Fayette County and retool three other Ohio plants for electric vehicle production.

This historic investment is part of the work we are doing to create an economy that puts American jobs, American production, and American workers first.

Think about where we were a little over ten years ago. The rest of the world – and too many politicians in this country – were ready to write off the American auto industry.

Time and again Ohioans have proved you should never – never – bet against the American auto industry and American auto workers.

And this week, Ohio is taking another step to lead the country and the world in producing the cars that Americans will drive over the next century.

We have the history. We have the talent. We have the ingenuity. We just needed a government that believes in American industry.

And we’re on the right track.

We are putting in place a new pro-American, pro-worker industrial policy. The CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act reward companies for doing the right thing, like Honda’s investment in American production and American workers.

We are finally burying the term “Rust Belt.”

I’m thankful for Honda’s commitment to Ohio and Ohio workers, workers who will manufacture the cars of the future and the union workers who will build this new facility.

We’re seeing that the jobs of the future, good-paying jobs that are going to transform Ohio industry, are jobs in renewable energy. The future of Ohio manufacturing begins now.