GM Plans at Least $1 Billion in Fresh U.S. Investment -- 2nd Update
January 16 2017 - 8:23PM
Dow Jones News
By Mike Colias
General Motors Co. this week will announce plans to invest at
least $1 billion across several U.S. factories, two people familiar
with the plan said, a move aimed at underlining its commitment to
U.S. manufacturing jobs in the wake of President-elect Donald
Trump's criticism of the auto maker's imports from Mexico.
GM's announcement could come as early as Tuesday, the people
briefed on the plan said. The company will cite a number of new
jobs in excess of 1,000 stemming from the investment but doesn't
plan to specify which of its factories are in line for more work,
one person said.
A GM spokesman declined to comment. The Trump transition team
didn't immediately return a request for comment.
The move comes days after Mr. Trump publicly ratcheted up
pressure on the nation's largest auto maker. During his press
conference last week, the president-elect thanked Ford Motor Co.
and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles for recently announced U.S.
investment plans that are expected to create a combined 2,700 jobs.
He then turned up the heat on GM to follow suit.
"I hope that General Motors will be following. And I think they
will be, " Mr. Trump said.
In an interview Monday, GM general counsel Craig Glidden
declined to confirm specifics of the announcement but said any
investment the company might disclose has been long planned and
isn't a response to pressure from Mr. Trump.
"This is something we've been undertaking for some period of
time," he said. "It's really getting our story told in a way that
is I think complete and fulsome."
In the interview, Mr. Glidden said GM has added 25,000 jobs over
the last four years. Of those, just 6,000 were factory workers --
the type of jobs Mr. Trump typically references in his comments on
trade -- and the rest were engineering, information technology and
other white-collar jobs. About 15,000 of those were shifted from
overseas, he said.
"There is a bigger story here that relates to employment in the
United States," Mr. Glidden said. As the auto industry pursues
self-driving cars and other new realms of mobility, "those will be
areas that continue to be centered here in the United States and
areas of further employment."
GM's announcement would follow a familiar pattern of auto makers
publicly outlining U.S. investment and job-creation plans in the
wake of Mr. Trump's criticism of imports while insisting they would
have moved ahead with them anyway.
Ford on Jan. 3 said it scrapped plans for a $1.6 billion plant
in Mexico that had been the subject of frequent criticism from Mr.
Trump. Ford Chief Executive Mark Fields said the decision stemmed
from sagging small-car demand in the U.S., but also called it a
"vote of confidence" in Mr. Trump's economic policies.
FCA and Toyota Motor Corp., which also had its Mexican
production plans criticized by the president-elect, each in recent
weeks have highlighted plans for significant investment in U.S.
factories.
GM's announcement comes ahead of more than 3,000 layoffs it
plans starting this month across U.S. factories. The job cuts
include about 1,200 workers at its Lordstown, Ohio, plant, which
makes the compact Chevrolet Cruze. Mr. Trump criticized GM in a
Jan. 3 Twitter message for importing some Cruzes from Mexico.
It's unclear whether the investment GM plans to disclose this
week eventually will include more work for the Lordstown
facility.
Mr. Glidden confirmed that Ms. Barra spoke with Mr. Trump early
this month following his tweet, which said companies that import
from Mexico should pay a "big border tax." Mr. Glidden, who was
briefed on the conversation, said the two discussed trade policy
and GM's "commitment to competitive manufacturing in the U.S."
He said Mr. Trump also "seemed interested" in whether there are
regulatory reforms that could benefit auto makers.
--John D. Stoll contributed to this article.
Write to Mike Colias at Mike.Colias@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 16, 2017 20:08 ET (01:08 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
General Motors (NYSE:GM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
General Motors (NYSE:GM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024