G.M. Has Plans Ready for Trump’s Canada and Mexico Tariffs
General Motors executives are closely tracking President Trump’s plans to impose tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, but the company is not yet making any major changes to its strategy in North America in response to the threatened tariffs.
The automaker has pulled together an “extensive playbook” of possible options but won’t put them in place “until the world changes dramatically, and we see a permanent level of tariffs going forward,” the company’s chief financial officer, Paul Jacobson, told reporters in a conference call on Monday evening.
“I won’t go into the details exactly but we’ve been preparing for that and want to make sure that we are prudent and don’t overreact,” he added.
Mr. Trump said last week that he planned to impose tariffs of 25 percent on goods from Canada and Mexico starting on Saturday, Feb. 1. If he followed through on those plans, the tariffs would deal a big blow to G.M. and other automakers that produce vehicles and components in those countries, and probably increase the prices of many vehicles sold in the United States.
G.M. produced nearly 900,000 vehicles in Mexico in 2024, more than any other carmaker, and most of those were shipped to the United States. Among them are the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks, as well as the Chevrolet Equinox sport-utility vehicle — all top-sellers and big sources of profit for the company. It also produces some Silverados and electric delivery vans in Canada.
G.M. said on Tuesday that it lost $3 billion in the final three months of 2024, stemming from a $4 billion noncash expense related to a restructuring of its joint venture operations in China. The company’s revenue in the quarter rose 11 percent.
For all of 2024, G.M. reported a $6 billion profit, down from $10.1 billion in 2023. Almost all of its profit came from North America.
The company also said its electric vehicle business is making progress toward becoming profitable. The company produced about 189,000 electric vehicles in North America last year and hopes to produce about 300,000 in the region in 2025, Mr. Jacobson said.
G.M.’s electric vehicle business may also suffer if Mr. Trump and Republicans in Congress repeal or reduce Biden-era tax breaks that make those cars and trucks more affordable and give companies incentives to manufacture batteries in the United States.
In a letter to shareholders, G.M.’s chief executive, Mary T. Barra, said the company has stressed in its conversations with Congress and the White House the importance of a strong manufacturing sector and American leadership in advanced technologies.
“Whatever happens on these fronts, we have a broad and deep portfolio of ICE vehicles and E.V.s that are both growing market share,” she said, referring to vehicles with internal combustion engines as well as electric vehicles, “and we’ll be agile and execute as efficiently as possible.”
Because of the company’s strong performance in North America, G.M. said it would pay bonuses of $14,500 each to 46,000 members of the United Automobile Workers union who work in its U.S. plants.
