Trump donor said ‘we can’t offshore American jobs’. Then he shut down his Ohio plant and moved it to China

Billionaire and Trump donor John Paulson is closing a manufacturing plant in Eastlake, Ohio, and moving the work to China. Paulson’s hedge fund company is shutting down the Conn Selmer plant, which is the largest U.S. manufacturer of brass and orchestra instruments. The decision has sparked widespread anger among workers and union leaders in the area.

Just last year, Paulson had publicly said, “We can’t have American producers closing American factories and offshoring. We need to protect American jobs and protect American manufacturing.” He was also a major donor to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, having raised $50.5 million. His latest move now stands in direct contradiction to those very words.

According to The New Republic, the plant’s closure is expected to hurt the local community significantly. “It’s going to take a lot of money out of East Lake,” said Robert Hines, the local union leader. “We’ve had people come out [and] show love to try to keep the place open, and the company just isn’t open to it. They’re not answering or returning anyone’s calls.”

Paulson’s move to China contradicts his own public statements on protecting American jobs

Hines also spoke about how the company handled bargaining talks with the union. “We came in with a full proposal, fully prepared to bargain, and they started off with a presentation of telling us how bad we were doing,” he said. The union had come prepared and willing to negotiate, but felt the company had already made up its mind before talks even began.

Hines added, “To go publicly on CNBC to support the Trump administration’s positive views on tariffs and all that stuff, and then you turn around and [say you] want to go send the work right over to China … it’s a slap in our face.” The frustration among workers is clear, given that Paulson had very publicly aligned himself with the administration’s pro-American-manufacturing stance before making this decision.

This comes at a time when Vice President JD Vance has been talking up the Trump administration’s impact on manufacturing jobs, per CNN. However, a recent fact-check found that the administration has actually seen a net loss of 77,000 manufacturing jobs since February 2025, with manufacturing jobs declining every single month of 2025.

It’s a  trend that has continued into 2026. This is not the only area where the administration’s actions have drawn criticism, as Trump skipped his son Don Jr.’s wedding ceremony to post memes online instead. 

Meanwhile, divisions have also appeared within the GOP itself, with key Republican supporters upset over the Iran war ending, calling it a disastrous mistake. For comparison, the Biden administration saw notable gains in manufacturing jobs during their time in office. 

In 2022 alone, the economy added 137,000 manufacturing jobs in the first quarter, 93,000 in the second, 82,000 in the third, and 46,000 in the fourth. The first quarter of 2021 also saw a gain of 76,000 manufacturing jobs. These numbers show a stark contrast to the current trend under the Trump administration.

U.S. manufacturing employment had already peaked in the late 1970s, and after some recovery, has been heading downward again since 2023. The Trump administration’s tariff policies may have played a role in this continued decline. The closure of the Conn Selmer plant in Ohio stands in direct contrast to the pro-manufacturing message that both Paulson and the Trump administration have publicly pushed. 

The plant has been a significant employer in the Eastlake area, and its shutdown will leave many workers without jobs. Paulson’s decision to move production to China, despite his own statements against offshoring, raises serious questions about the gap between what political donors and officials say and what they actually do.