GM CEO Mary Barra met with President Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss tariffs, investment plans, and U.S. manufacturing. On Thursday, President Trump told the press about the visit and said General Motors wants to “invest $60 billion” in the United States.
POTUS on major investments in America: “General Motors wants to invest $60 billion. Facebook is going to invest $60 billion by the end of the year… Apple announced a $500 billion investment. They’re going to build their plants in the United States.”
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“We share President Trump’s goals of a strong and competitive American manufacturing base and economy,” a GM spokesperson told USA Today when asked about the meeting. As of this writing, Mary Barra hasn’t spoken publicly about the meeting with Trump.
It’s unclear whether Trump’s $60 billion figure includes new investments, already-planned investments, or a combination of both. It’s also unclear over what period of time such an investment will be made.
As far as ongoing investment into American manufacturing, GM is in the process of retooling its Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City to produce the next-generation 2026 Chevy Bolt EV following the discontinuation of the Chevy Malibu and Cadillac XT4 that were built there. GM is also preparing the Spring Hill plant in Tennessee to phase out the Cadillac XT5 and Cadillac XT6 and make it an all-EV factory that produces the Cadillac Lyriq, Cadillac Vistiq, and Acura ZDX.
In the same interview with reporters, President Trump said Facebook is making a similar $60 billion investment in the U.S. by the end of 2025, possibly referring to the AI data center in Louisiana that Meta announced in December 2024. Trump also boasted of Apple’s $500 billion investment in an AI server factory in Texas that the tech giant announced last month.
In addition to the Trump/Barra meeting, GM Korea labor union officials announced this week that they’ll be traveling to Detroit soon to visit with GM officials and United Auto Workers (UAW) president Shawn Fain. “Employees are anxious” that General Motors might reduce South Korean manufacturing, Korean Metal Workers’ Union chapter chairman Ahn Kyu-baek told The Detroit News. “We want to know what management are going to do if tariffs are realized.”
