CNN
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General Motors said on Tuesday that it would invest $4 billion into three US plants to boost production of gas and electric vehicles, as a 25% tariff on imported cars by President Donald Trump threatens the bottom lines of automakers that sell in the United States.
It was not immediately clear how much of the $4 billion had already been announced or committed.
The automaker’s plan reflects the rush by manufacturers to invest in the United States to sidestep Trump’s tariffs – or at least to make splashy, eye-catching announcements that could win them a reprieve.
GM CEO Mary Barra previously told CNN that the 25% tariff on cars (and on imported auto parts) would cost the company between $4 billion and $5 billion in 2025.
Trump has levied tariffs on several sectors, including a 50% tariff on steel and aluminum that also could hurt automakers, as well as 10% tariffs on US trading partners generally. But he’s also paused, increased, walked back and modified many of his tariffs, leading to confusion among investors, importers and businesses that are trying to figure out how to stay afloat.
The GM investment will go into three locations, the company said in a release: Orion Assembly in Orion Township, Michigan; Fairfax Assembly in Kansas City, Kansas; and Spring Hill Manufacturing in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
GM’s contract with the United Auto Workers in 2023 promised an additional investment in both the Orion and Fairfax assemblies. The contract does not mention a Spring Hill investment.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates our ongoing commitment to build vehicles in the US and to support American jobs,” Barra said in GM’s statement.
The United Auto Workers union praised GM’s move – and Trump’s use of tariffs.
“While other companies drag their feet, GM is showing that strategic auto tariffs work with a massive $4 billion investment that will create thousands of good paying union jobs,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement. “It’s time to invest in blue collar America, and GM is showing how it’s done. This is just the beginning.”
Trump has been vocal in demanding companies move production to the United States, one of the stated goals of his tariff campaign, which will touch products across a broad swath of American life.
GM was the first major company to estimate a dollar amount for its costs from Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
Many other companies have walked back earnings forecasts because of the ensuing economic uncertainty or have said they will likely raise prices at some point this year. Ford, for example, said it expects to raise its US car prices as much as 1.5% in the second half of 2025 due to the import levies.
While GM is not the dominant global auto player it once was, it is still the largest American automaker, with 2.7 million cars and trucks sold in the US last year. And all of those cars and trucks are vulnerable to Trump’s tariffs to some extent.
Most of the nearly 1 million vehicles it builds in Mexico and Canada, according to S&P Global Mobility numbers from last year, end up exported to US dealerships.
And the automaker exported more than 400,000 vehicles to the US from South Korea last year.
Even the 1.7 million cars and trucks GM built in the US last year depended on imported parts to some degree (although some of the tariffs on imported car parts can be mitigated for domestic manufacturers).
CNN’s Nathaniel Meyersohn contributed reporting.
