Trump hints at tariffs on auto imports after GM announcement

President points to steel plant as evidence of levies’ effectiveness

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump hinted Wednesday that he’s looking into slapping tariffs on car imports, a day after he threatened to slash federal subsidies to General Motors for wanting to close five U.S. factories.

GM announced Monday that it wants to shutter the plants and slash 14,000 jobs in North America. Many of the job cuts would affect the Midwest, the politically crucial region where the president promised a manufacturing rebirth.

Trump’s comments about GM’s plan are the latest example of his willingness to try to meddle in the affairs of private companies and threaten to use government power to influence their business decisions.

Trump boasted on Twitter Wednesday that Steel Dynamics, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was opening a new plant in the Southwest, creating 600 jobs. He said it was evidence that steel jobs were returning to America because of tariffs he imposed on steel imports.

He also spoke positively about tariffs on small truck imports.

“The reason that the small truck business in the U.S. is such a go to favorite is that, for many years, Tariffs of 25% have been put on small trucks coming into our country,” Trump tweeted. “If we did that with cars coming in, many more cars would be built here and G.M. would not be closing their plants in Ohio, Michigan & Maryland.”

Countries that send cars to the U.S. have taken advantage of the country for decades, he said.

“The President has great power on this issue - Because of the G.M. event, it is being studied now!”

Trump has expressed disappointment with GM and its chief executive officer, Mary Barra, for the decision to close the plants. “Nothing being closed in Mexico & China,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday. “The U.S. saved General Motors, and this is the THANKS we get!”

He added that his administration was “looking at cutting all GM subsidies, including for electric cars.”

The White House rebuke appears to fly in the face of long-held Republican opposition to picking winners and losers in the marketplace. A day earlier, Trump issued a vague threat to GM to preserve a key plant in the presidential bellwether state of Ohio, where the company has marked its Lordstown plant for closure.

“That’s Ohio, and you better get back in there soon,” he said.

It’s not clear precisely what action against GM might be taken, or when, and there are questions about whether the president has the authority to act without congressional approval.

Buyers of electric vehicles made by GM and other automakers get federal tax credits of up to $7,500, helping reduce the price as an incentive to get more of the zeroemissions vehicles on the road. But GM is on the cusp of reaching its subsidy limit.