Production is now set to begin at the former Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, less than two years after GM announced the massive $2.2 billion investment to fully renovate the facility to build a variety of all-electric trucks and SUVs.
Photo by Jeffrey Sauger for General Motors
DETROIT – Shares of the Detroit automakers jumped Friday afternoon following a report that President Donald Trump is considering “significant tariff relief” for the production of vehicles in the U.S.
Stocks for General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler parent Stellantis shifted from trading level or down to up roughly 2% to 4% on the report from Reuters.
The news organization, citing Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio and auto officials, said the potential change could “effectively eliminate much of the costs major car companies are paying.”
“The signal to the car companies around the world is, look, you have final assembly in the U.S.: we’re going to reward you,” Moreno told Reuters during an interview. “For Ford, for Toyota, for Honda, for Tesla, for GM, those are the almost in order the top five domestic content vehicle producers — they’ll be immune to tariffs.”
Reuters reported that the changes could include extending a tariff offset of 3.75% for five years as well as adding U.S. engine production to the relief.
Shares of U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla remained down by roughly 2% in late afternoon trading, while other U.S.-listed shares for other automakers with notable operations in the U.S., such as Honda Motor and Toyota Motor, saw bumps.
Trump’s tariffs of 25% on imported vehicles and parts have been a major concern for the automotive industry, costing companies billions of dollars in higher costs.
Automakers have been lobbying the Trump administration for relief, especially for U.S.-produced vehicles as well as those imported from Canada and Mexico.
Shares of Ford, which assembles the most vehicles in the U.S., hit a new 52-week high of $12.66 per share Friday afternoon. The automaker previously said it expected $3 billion in U.S. tariff-related costs this year, $1 billion of which it believed it could mitigate.
