Don: I’ll end all fed help over GM cuts
President Trump threatened Tuesday to pull the plug on government kickbacks for General Motors in light of the automaker’s announcement it’s laying off as many as 14,000 American workers and shuttering five plants.
Accusing GM of favoring other countries over the U.S., Trump called out the manufacturing behemoth’s chief executive by name and blasted her for the massive cuts in a string of tweets.
“Very disappointed with General Motors and their CEO, Mary Barra, for closing plants in Ohio, Michigan and Maryland,” Trump tweeted. “Nothing being closed in Mexico & China. The U.S. saved General Motors and this is the THANKS we get! We are now looking at cutting all GM subsidies, including for electric cars.”
The President’s fuming missive prompted GM stocks to drop 2.5% and came a day after Barra announced the downsizing because she said the company is refocusing on self-driving and electric cars to “stay in front of changing market conditions and customer preferences.”
The GM bloodletting marked a major setback for Trump’s nationalist economic agenda and campaign promise to rev up U.S. manufacturing and bring back auto jobs.
More than 8,000 whitecollar GM employees will either take buyouts or be laid off while roughly 6,000 factory workers will lose their jobs — many of them in the Midwest, where Trump has promised to usher in an economic boom.
The auto manufacturer didn’t confront Trump’s subsidy threat and instead offered an olive branch-like explanation.
“Many of the U.S. workers impacted by these actions will have the opportunity to shift to other GM plants where we will need more employees to support growth in trucks, crossovers and SUVs,” GM said in a statement, adding the company’s “transformation” will also include adding new jobs relating to electric and self-driving cars.
The government currently provides a $7,500 tax credit to GM for each electric car sold. However, that subsidy is about to expire, as it’s capped at 200,000 sold units, which GM will likely hit by the end of the year.