USMCA Watch: General Motors’ cuts follow clarity in Trump’s trade policies
General Motors will halt operations at seven factories globally. That’s come in response to poor sales of sedan models and is also likely due to emerging certainty in the Trump administration’s trade policies. The finalization of the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement and KORUS (with South Korea) may have allowed the firm to make final decisions regarding the structure of its parts supply chain, though the section 232 review of the industry leaves some doubts.

GM’s imports of parts from outside USMCA increased by 5.5% in the three months to Oct. 31 sequentially including a 5.6% rise in imports from China and 40.7% from India. Leading suppliers included Chinese wheel-maker Citic Dicastal at 14.6% of the past 12 months’ imports, South Korean battery maker Atlas Bx (4.5%) and Denso’s Italian thermal systems subsidiary (4.2%).

GM is already scaling up shipments from Mexico to the U.S. with a 25.4% rise in the third quarter vs. the second. That's included increased internal shipments as well plastics maker ABC and wiring supplier Arneses.