Lawmakers Unite to Oppose GM Plant Closures, Layoffs
*By Carlo Versano*
Politicians on both sides of the aisle united with labor leaders on Monday to slam GM's announcement that it would cut more than 14,000 jobs ー a combination of factory and office roles ー and put five plants on the chopping block.
President Trump said he told General Motors CEO Mary Barra that he was not pleased with the decision, which was driven by shifting consumer preferences, slowing sales, and a sea change in mobility.
"The United States saved General Motors and for her to take that company out of Ohio is not good," Trump told reporters on Monday. "I think she's going to put something back in soon." Before he was inaugurated, Trump had [praised](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/821415698278875137?lang=en) GM ($GM) for a "big jobs push back into the U.S."
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is publicly flirting with a run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, said the move was "corporate greed at its worst."
The UAW said the decision would "not go unchallenged," while Larry Kudlow, Trump's chief economic adviser, summoned Barra to the White House in a sign of how seriously the White House takes the issue of major cost-cutting at an American automaker.
But for Barra, it made sense to initiate a massive forward-looking pivot at the automaker when the economy is healthy, rather than later, when it may not be ー a lesson GM learned the hard way when it nearly collapsed during the financial crisis.
"We are taking this action now while the company and the economy are strong to keep ahead of changing market conditions," Barra said in a conference call with investors.
They responded favorably, sending shares of GM up as much as seven percent Monday.
With gas prices low, buyers have sought out bigger cars, including pick-ups and crossover SUVs, which has put pressure on carmakers like Ford ($F) and several of GM's brands, like Cadillac, Buick, and Chevy. Earlier this year, Ford said it would kill off its sedan lines in the U.S. due to low demand. That's also happening amid a broader change in the very foundation of mobility as rideshare partnerships and autonomous and electric development take on a larger role and drivers cast aside legacy automakers.
GM explicitly mentioned investments in autonomous and electric R&D in its announcement.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
