General Motors announced a record adjusted net income for 2024 on Tuesday, just a year after facing the costly United Auto Workers union strike. The company also projected even stronger operating results for the year ahead.
However, GM acknowledged that certain policy challenges from the Trump administration could impact its profit outlook. As the U.S. auto industry navigates an uncertain landscape, GM and other automakers are making strategic plans to adapt.
Recently produced vehicles are parked awaiting shipment near Ford’s Oakville Assembly Plant in Oakville, Ontario.
Tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico—both key suppliers of parts for GM’s U.S. plants—could significantly disrupt the automaker’s supply chain and increase manufacturing costs for cars and trucks. GM also operates assembly plants in both countries that export vehicles to the U.S. market.
Additionally, President Donald Trump is targeting federal incentives for electric vehicles and the Environmental Protection Agency’s emission regulations.
These policy shifts could slow GM’s planned transition from gasoline-powered to electric vehicles over the next decade and impact its efforts to reduce current EV-related losses.
GM Manufacturing Plant“We’re having conversations broadly with the administration, internally, with our partners, with our supply chain, really trying to understand what we would do in the event the world changes dramatically,” GM CFO Paul Jacobson told reporters Monday evening.
“I would say we’ve got a pretty extensive playbook. I won’t go into the details. We’ve been preparing for that. We want to make sure we are prudent, we don’t overreact.”
Jacobson also declined to comment on what GM and other automakers are seeking from the Trump administration regarding environmental policies, including Trump’s proposal to eliminate the $7,500-per-vehicle tax credit for electric vehicle buyers.
For 2024, GM reported an adjusted net income of $12.1 billion, surpassing its previous record of $11 billion set in 2022.
The company’s net income for the year was $6 billion, despite a fourth-quarter loss due to restructuring charges related to its operations in China and the cancellation of plans for a driverless robotaxi fleet.
Nonetheless, these losses did not impact profit-sharing payouts for GM’s 45,000 UAW members, each of whom received a record payment of up to $14,500—equivalent to more than two months’ salary.
“Suffice it to say, 2024 was an outstanding year for GM,” Jacobson said. “When we deliver results like these, everybody wins.”
