Tariffs, specifically on automobiles, have been a consistent talking point in the current U.S. election cycle. The Biden/Harris Administration imposed a 100-percent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles that went into effect last month, while Republican nominee Donald Trump has threatened a 60-percent tariff on all goods from China and a 200-percent tariff on cars imported from Mexico. As the rhetoric continues and the presidential election draws nearer, GM is sitting on the sidelines, ready to adapt to a change in leadership in the White House.
“Tariffs are not going anywhere. Depending on who wins office, the U.S. will either see much of the same or a proposed 10 percent increase in tariffs or 60 percent increase on goods imported from China,” Charles Klein, head of OEC Group Detroit, a leading facilitator of importing goods, told the Detroit Free Press. “With a majority of auto parts coming from China, automotive supply chains will be affected.”
President Trump is explicitly pro-tariff as a method for boosting American manufacturing and thus creating jobs. Vice President Harris has been a little vaguer on the subject. She’s called Trump’s tariff plan a “Trump sales tax” and hasn’t confirmed whether her administration would continue the Trump-era tariffs that were extended during Biden’s term.
GM CEO Mary Barra weighed in, telling analysts that GM is “always working on cost reductions.”
“We are paying careful attention to the approach both candidates might take,” Barra said. “I’m not going to speculate on what each [presidential candidate] might do, but what I will tell you is that we have and will continue to engage constructively with the policymaking process regardless of the election outcome. When you look at the number of jobs created in the U.S., even with some vehicles that are manufactured outside, a lot of them are in our partners from an allied perspective. I think it’s a very complex situation.”
“We’re going to work constructively, so it’s too hard to speculate, not knowing exactly what’s going to happen,” Barra continued. “But we’re going to be disciplined, and we’re going to be resilient, and we’ll make adjustments to the extent that we can to continue to drive growth and profitability.”
