In Tariff Lobbying, GM and Ford Argue They're More American

Detroit's longest-running rivalry has a new arena: the trade war. As the US reshapes tariffs and revisits its North American trade pact, Ford and General Motors are battling over who gets to call itself the more "American" automaker—and which company's business model the federal government should protect. Publicly, the crosstown giants sound aligned, backing favorable treatment for North American-made vehicles and the renewal of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Privately, the Wall Street Journal reports, their interests diverge.

Ford, which builds about 80% of its US-sold vehicles in the country and employs more factory workers than any rival, is pushing for steeper tariffs on imported cars from places like South Korea, where GM produces hundreds of thousands of low-cost models. It also wants cheaper imported aluminum. GM counters that it contributes more overall to the US workforce and has attacked Ford's reliance on Chinese battery technology, opposing federal support for a Ford battery plant and pressing to tighten a bill targeting Chinese-connected EV tech. "There was a day when you had the Big Three, and they acted monolithically," said Patrick Anderson, a Michigan-based consultant. "Those days are long gone." The full Journal article can be found here.