GM profit shrinks on billion-dollar tariff hit in second quarter

General Motors said Tuesday that its profit in the second quarter fell by more than a third, after President Donald Trump's tariffs cost the company more than $1 billion.

- JACK EWING

GM was the second automaker this week to show the toll that the Trump administration's trade policies are taking on the industry. Stellantis, the maker of Chrysler, Jeep and Ram vehicles, said Monday that it lost €2.3 billion ($2.7 billion) in the first half of the year partly because of tariffs and other Republican policies.

Automakers are an important pillar of the US economy, and the industry employs about 1 million manufacturing workers. Eroding profits will make it harder for them to invest in new technologies to withstand growing competition from Chinese automakers that have been expanding abroad.

GM's profit for the quarter was $1.9 billion, the company said, down from $2.9 billion in the same quarter last year. Sales fell 2%, to $47 billion.