Mary Barra says GM and Trump ‘share the same goals’

GM CEO acknowledges tariffs on Mexican and Canadian auto imports will have big impact, but says president and automaker share some common goals

General Motors Co. chief Mary Barra claimed this week that the automaker and President Donald Trump were “aligned” despite Trump’s planned tariffs, but Barra acknowledged the potential impact on GM. The “very significant” impact on the car business has raised some eyebrows.

“I think our goals are very aligned,” the CEO told guests at an Automotive Press Association event on Wednesday, before explaining where the two usually opposing sides see eye-to-eye.

RELATED: Trump’s tariffs could slash automaker profits by 17%

“We want a strong economy. We want a strong manufacturing base in this country. We agree that auto industry jobs are important,” the Detroit Free Press reported Barra as saying. But she made no secret of the difficulties facing GM (and other automakers), both in terms of short-term uncertainty and the potential impact of decisions late in the Trump administration.

“We have to see what the policy is,” Barra said. “It’s hard for me to predict what’s going to happen. We’re doing a lot of scenario planning and we’ll adjust accordingly.”

Barra acknowledged that Trump’s proposed 25% tariff on cars imported into the United States from Mexico and Canada, where GM has production sites, “could have a very significant impact on its profitability,” Like eliminating the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit.

While Trump and Barra have sometimes feuded, and she has been the target of the president’s social media ire over GM’s cost-cutting measures, Barra calls her sometimes nemesis a good listener. GM hopes he’s still willing to listen to Barra and not listen too intently to Tesla boss Elon Musk – who will soon be in charge of the much-hyped Department of Government Effectiveness.

“Any time there’s a change in administration, there’s going to be a change in policy,” Barra said, according to the Detroit News. “We’ve been working with every administration over the past few decades and GM will continue to do that. But I actually “I’m looking forward to working with the president and the administration because I think we can increase the importance of the automotive industry and manufacturing.”