General Motors came out swinging Friday against President Trump’s proposed tariffs on foreign automobiles, saying they risked weakening the company’s global competitiveness and would lead to job cuts at home and abroad.
In comments filed with the Commerce Department, which is evaluating whether auto imports threaten U.S. national security as the president has suggested, GM said the new tariffs would hurt the economy.
Trump’s proposal “risks undermining GM’s competitiveness against foreign auto producers by erecting broad brush trade barriers that increase our global costs” and could invite retaliation by U.S. trading partners, the automaker said.
The company’s blunt statement underscores the increasing frustration among American multinational corporations, which fear that the president’s “America First” trade policy ignores the realities of a global economy.