GM CEO trying to cozy up to Trump after years of criticism

Mary Barra has been the CEO of General Motors (GM) since 2014, and she has led the company down a liberal rabbit hole ever since. 

She is now trying to change that, however, by cozying up to Trump after years of criticism and sucking up to Democrat officials.  

GM and EVs

As Democrats really started to push electric vehicles (EVs) on consumers, GM went all in.  

In 2014, just as Barra was taking over as the CEO, GM started to tout the innovations it was making in its EV production.  

Kurt Kelty, VP, battery, propulsion, and sustainability, wrote, “At GM, we’re not just building better batteries. We’re scaling U.S. production, securing a resilient North American supply chain, and advancing technology to drive down costs and compete globally.  

“I shared our vision for the future of U.S. battery industrialization earlier this month at the SAFE Summit, a policy forum in Washington, D.C.” 

Taking sides 

The animosity between Trump and Barra goes back to COVID, where Trump was calling on American manufacturers to pitch in with the production of some badly needed supplies and equipment.  

In GM’s case, it was ventilators, but Trump struggled to get an agreement with them.  

At the time, Trump stated, “As usual with ‘this’ General Motors, things just never seem to work out. 

“They said they were going to give us 40,000 much needed Ventilators, ‘very quickly’. Now they are saying it will only be 6000, in late April, and they want top dollar. Always a mess with Mary B. Invoke ‘P’.” 

Changing her tune 

Barra was critical of Trump’s tariffs, but she has since been warming up to Trump to try to save a company that has been going the wrong way financially for years.  

She has announced a massive investment in US plants, pledging $13 billion over the next five years, with some of this going in areas where plants were previously closed.  

Heritage Foundation Chief Economist EJ Antoni is calling this for what it is, stating, "This is a classic example of a big corporation cozying up to a political office holder to garner influence. Instead of making vehicles people actually want, for a price they can afford, with American labor and American materials, GM has failed on all four counts, all because it was banking on Democrats forcing consumers into EVs." 

This is how the game is played, though. They all suck up to whoever is in office at that time, carefully planning an exit strategy just in case things go sour. This is now Barra’s pivot from EVs, but don’t trust her just yet. As Antoni stated, this is just the usual play, so don’t buy into those big investments until we see them write the checks and start production.