Trump promised to fix tax law to save GM jobs in U.S., Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown says

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said he and President Donald Trump are working together on legislation that would incentivize General Motors to keep thousands of jobs in the U.S. that the company is currently planning to cut, according to CNBC.

Brown said he spoke to Trump on the phone Wednesday to discuss Brown's American Cars, American Jobs Act, a bill the senator introduced in August.

"The president said he liked the bill," Brown said in a statement. "My office sent a copy of the bill over to the White House [Wednesday night] and we will continue doing everything we can to fight for Ohio jobs. I'm glad the president said the right things [Wednesday night], but now he needs to follow it up with action."

What would Brown's bill do?

The American Cars, American Jobs Act would give car buyers a $3,500 discount for buying an American-made vehicle. It would also eliminate a part of the GOP tax law that, according to Brown, encourages manufacturers to move operations overseas.

Brown introduced the bill after GM announced it would build the new Chevrolet Blazer in Mexico.

What did Trump and Brown discuss?

Brown said Trump "wasn't really aware" of the tax break in the law that pushed some American companies to move abroad, but that the president "said he would help." Specifically, Brown said Trump agreed to support his bill.

"We're gonna work on this and I'm gonna take the president at his word," Brown said. "He doesn't always do what he says, but he promised this, and we're going to move forward and hope we can get this through Congress."

About GM's planned cuts

GM announced Monday that it would shut down five North American plants by the end of 2019 -- including one in Ohio, two in Michigan, one in Maryland, and one in Ontario, Canada -- as it discontinued several sedan models produced at those locations.

About half the workers laid off from those plants would have a chance to relocate to other GM operations, according to the company.

President Donald Trump was highly critical of the plan, and threatened to cut subsidies to GM if they followed through.