DENTON, Texas — President Donald Trump is scheduled to tour the Peterbilt Motors Company plant in Denton and speak to employees, putting the city’s truck factory in a national argument over tariffs and jobs.
The North Texas Daily reported on Sept. 29 that the visit is set for Oct. 1 at 3200 Airport Road, about a month before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. As of that report, the Daily had asked the City of Denton and Peterbilt for comment and had not heard back. It did not list road closures or say whether residents can attend.
What the White House says the stop is for
White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said Trump would discuss “his pro-growth economic” strategies under the America First Trade Policy, the Daily reported.
A White House official told FOX Business that 2025 tariffs on heavy-duty vehicles have aided growth, and pointed to Paccar, Peterbilt’s parent company, according to the Daily. The administration says those tariffs led Paccar to add at least 1,000 jobs at the Denton plant and 2,000 jobs nationwide.
The tariffs are 25 percent on medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and 10 percent on buses, and they took effect Nov. 1, 2025, the Daily reported. Wales said they are “driving a manufacturing renaissance that will continue paying dividends for the great state of Texas and Americans across the country.”
A different set of job numbers
An outside tally does not show simple growth, and it is not a Denton-only count. Revelio Labs, a firm that studies employment, found Peterbilt’s overall workforce down 9.4 percent, from 1,910 employees in 2023 to 1,730 in 2026, the Daily reported. The same analysis found a 1 percent decline in 2026 from the year before. The Daily said it could not find figures for the Denton plant alone.
National totals cited by the paper point the other way. The Center for American Progress said the United States has lost 89,000 manufacturing jobs since Trump announced the tariffs in April 2025, and 123,700 jobs in transportation and warehousing. The Daily also cited the Advancing American Freedom Foundation among groups describing those national losses. As presented, those figures do not isolate the Denton factory.
Who has spoken locally
U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, whose district the Daily said includes parts of Denton, said in a press release quoted by the paper that the visit would show how the president has aided the state and national economy.
“President Trump is delivering on his promise to put American workers and American manufacturing first. … The thousands of jobs created by Paccar are proof that America is open for business again, and I’m proud to stand with President Trump as we continue bringing jobs, investment, and critical manufacturing back home,” Jackson said.
After Denton, Trump is scheduled to hold a midterm rally in Durant, Oklahoma, at the Choctaw Event Center, the Daily reported.
Readers with information about the plant stop, or about hiring at the factory, can write news@dentoncountyrecord.com.