Winning Already? CNBC's Auto Expert Says Donald Trump 'Can Claim A Victory' Against Ford

President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on bringing so many "wins" to the American people. Even though he has yet to be sworn into the White House, CNBC's auto expert Phil LeBeau handed Trump his first major win in securing American jobs.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Ford Motor Company F's chairman Bill Ford spoke with Trump and told the president-elect that the company won't be shifting production of Lincoln SUVs out of Louisville, Kentucky, into Mexico.

"President-elect Trump can claim a little bit of a victory here by saying, 'Look, I have locked in that you are going to have production of this small SUV at this plant in Louisville,'" LeBeau said during Friday's "Squawk Box" segment. "If you are Ford, you can say, 'Hopefully this ends a lot of the public commentary that we have heard from President-elect Trump about moving small car production to Mexico.'"

Not A Full Victory

LeBeau did, however, note that the plant in question was not destined to be shut down in the near term with production shifted to Mexico. However, when Ford negotiated a new contract with the auto workers union in 2015, the company did acknowledge that eventually production of the Lincoln MKC may leave Kentucky with the final destination to be determined at that time.

Moreover, LeBeau said that he spoke with Ford's CEO Mark Fields recently, who confirmed Ford's plans to shift small car production to Mexico remains unchanged, but instead, the production plants in the United States will produce SUVs.