GM General Motors Company

By Mike Colias 

General Motors Co. confirmed it will invest an extra $1 billion in its U.S. manufacturing operations and will bring in house some production now being done by a supplier in Mexico, days after President-elect Donald Trump ramped up pressure on the nation's largest auto maker to follow rivals in committing to create U.S. jobs.

GM said the investment would create or retain nearly 2,000 new manufacturing jobs. About 450 of those are needed as GM moves to make its own axles for the next generation of its full-size pickup truck, replacing a supplier that now makes them in Mexico.

GM also said it would add about 5,000 new salaried jobs "over the next few years," including new engineers working in "advanced technologies" and additions to its GM Financial captive-finance unit.

"The U.S. is our home market and we are committed to growth that is good for our employees, dealers, and suppliers and supports our continued effort to drive shareholder value," GM Chief Executive Mary Barra said in a statement.

GM and other auto makers have been under pressure in recent weeks amid mounting criticism from Mr. Trump about their growing operations in Mexico. Last week, Mr. Trump, who will be inaugurated Friday, said he believed GM would fall in line behind Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which have announced fresh U.S. investments in recent weeks.

Within a half-hour of GM's announcement Tuesday, Mr. Trump posted a Twitter message claiming credit for the auto industry's recent string of U.S. manufacturing commitments.

"With all of the jobs I am bringing back into the U.S. (even before taking office), with all of the new auto plants coming back into our country...I believe the people are seeing 'big stuff,'" the president-elect's Twitter account said.

While Ford has been Mr. Trump's most frequent target since early in his campaign, GM, which was bailed out by the federal government in 2009, is seen as more vulnerable to criticism on trade and jobs, analysts say. The auto maker imports more vehicles from Mexico than does Ford and in recent months has announced plans to lay off more than 3,000 factory workers in Michigan and Ohio, citing waning demand for passenger cars.

While Mr. Trump's criticism of the industry has centered on the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, GM has tried to spotlight the white-collar positions it has created as vehicle sales rebounded in recent years. In its statement, the company said it has added 19,000 engineering, information-technology and other professional jobs over the last four years.

GM also defended its record in expanding the U.S. manufacturing base since its 2009 restructuring. It has spent $21 billion on its U.S. operations since then, the company said.

"I think we're actually very in sync with the idea of boosting employment in the United States by putting key, logical operations here, " GM general counsel Craig Glidden said in an interview Monday. "It would be an error to think that the direction the incoming administration may be in versus GM are somehow at odds."

GM also said it has helped create U.S. factory jobs by encouraging suppliers to build facilities adjacent to the auto maker's U.S. plants, which reduces transportation and logistics costs. Suppliers have set up shop near four of GM's largest assembly plants in recent years, the company said.

Write to Mike Colias at Mike.Colias@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 17, 2017 10:45 ET (15:45 GMT)

General Motors (NYSE:GM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024

General Motors (NYSE:GM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024