Washington: US President Donald Trump has credited his tariff policies with reviving General Motors and bringing automobile production back to the United States, saying the company was enjoying its strongest year.
Trump made the remarks on Monday during a visit to the GM Milford Proving Ground in Michigan. He toured the facility with General Motors CEO Mary Barra and company President Mark Reuss.
“They’ve come a long way. It’s amazing what tariffs will do for General Motors, and what the election has done,” Trump said. “They’re doing great; General Motors is doing fantastically, the best year they’ve ever had.”
Trump described the visit as the first by a sitting US president to the proving ground, one of the best-known testing facilities in the American automobile industry.
“Today, I’m proud to say that the auto industry is back and America is back, and it’s pulling Detroit and Michigan along with it,” he told workers.
The president said his administration had imposed a 25 per cent tariff on foreign automobiles and trucks to encourage manufacturers to produce vehicles inside the United States.
“My policy is simple if you make your truck or your car in a foreign country, you have to pay for the privilege of sending it into our market and making a lot of money,” Trump said.
“But if you build in a factory in Michigan or someplace in our country and make your automobiles or trucks right here in America, you pay zero taxes, zero tariff, you pay zero, zero tariff,” he added.
Trump said GM had expanded operations at Factory Zero in Detroit to produce vehicles including the Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra, Hummer and Cadillac Escalade.
He said GM had increased truck and sport utility vehicle production by 20 per cent in 2026. The company had also invested $9 billion over the past two years in bringing factories back to the United States, according to the president.
“They’re coming back home because, frankly, when they build here, there’s no tariff,” Trump said.
He also pointed to planned investments by other automobile manufacturers. Trump said Ford was investing $3 billion to produce parts for a new pickup truck in central Michigan. He said Toyota, Hyundai and other companies were also relocating production to the United States.
GM’s Milford Proving Ground has been used for vehicle development and safety testing for more than a century. Trump said its five-and-a-half-mile test track had hosted every model of the Chevrolet Corvette and that the presidential limousine, known as “the Beast”, was designed, built and tested there.
Michigan remains the centre of the US automobile industry and a major political battleground. Detroit is home to General Motors, Ford and Stellantis’ North American operations, while the wider industry supports manufacturing and supply-chain jobs across the state.
