According to foreign media reports, General Motors CEO Mary Barra recently said that in the short term, the company is confident of responding to the impact of US President Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on imported goods from Canada and Mexico.
Mary Barra said that GM has made emergency plans for the United States to impose tariffs on auto parts and vehicles imported from the two neighboring countries. This includes the possibility of avoiding the short-term impact of 30% to 50% of the additional costs without investing “no money”.
“We are ready to know what to do once we know exactly what will happen, or even if there is just a little sign of what is going to happen,” Barra said at a meeting on February 11. GM is evaluating the impact of import tariffs on its business, and the company’s current two raw materials come from the United States, and GM’s procurement prices are also fixed in the short term.
General Motors Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson, who attended the meeting with Barra, added that if the tariffs persist, the company could take further measures, such as transferring vehicle production or supply of parts.
GM did not respond to investor concerns about tariffs during a quarterly earnings call two weeks ago, causing the company’s stock to fall 8%. Barra’s speech this time is General Motors’ most detailed explanation to date on how to reduce the impact of tariffs.
GM has a car business in Canada and produces even bigger in Mexico, including many of its low-cost electric vehicles and lucrative full-size pickups.
Barra’s remarks came after rival Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley said Trump’s tariffs, whether already implemented or threatened, were causing “chaos” to the U.S. auto industry.
Farley said that although President Trump has repeatedly mentioned strengthening the US automobile industry and attracting more automobile production and innovation to return to the United States, at present, the industry only feels about the increase in costs and chaos in order. Last week, Farley also said that if the Trump administration wants to impose tariffs that affect the automotive industry, it should take a comprehensive consideration of cars imported by all countries. He specifically pointed out Toyota and Hyundai, which export hundreds of thousands of cars to the United States from Japan and South Korea each year, but will not be affected by Trump’s new tariff policies.