General Motors CEO Mary Barra on adjusting to “few-billion-dollar impact” of tariffs on business

As General Motors settles into its new Detroit headquarters, the automotive industry is facing challenging times as it contends with rising costs, shifting tariff policies and a fledgling electric vehicle market. GM CEO Mary Barra tells CBS News that, despite those challenges, “I think we’re on a good path” and she is optimistic about the future of her company and the U.S. economy.

The market for electric vehicles hasn’t quite taken off in the U.S. just yet. Barra told “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil Tuesday that GM is “still committed” to EVs, but thinks a major issue is that the industry was “getting a little ahead of the consumer.” 

“A vehicle is such a big purchase for a consumer,” she said. “For many of them, it’s the most expensive thing that they buy.” 

“I think we’re on a good path. I think as there’s more charging infrastructure, as we continue to get the cost of batteries down, I think consumers will pick an electric vehicle, because they’re better,” Barra predicted.

Asked why the U.S. seems to be unable to compete with China in terms of making affordable electric vehicles, Barra said, “I believe at GM we are.”

She said U.S. safety standards and other regulatory requirements are higher than they are in China and that China’s auto industry is “heavily subsidized.” 

“I think we can compete and have a better vehicle, and I think we’re doing that,” she said.

But the cost of a new vehicle has continued to rise in recent years, and the Trump administration’s aggressive tariff policy has also added to that, Barra said.

“It had a few-billion-dollar impact last year,” she said of those tariffs. But, she noted, it led to GM making changes, including bringing more production to the U.S., and praised the administration for making “the playing field…a bit more level” for U.S. manufacturers.

“We worked with the administration and they took the time to understand our industry to make sure there wasn’t unintended consequences so that we could still compete with some of the vehicles coming from other countries,” Barra said. “I think it was a shift that we’re working through to get back. But I think ’26 will be an even better year than ’25, and I think the playing field is a bit more level than it was just, you know, 18 months ago.”

But consumer sentiment in the U.S. remains pessimistic, polling has shown, and the auto industry is often seen as a bellwether for the larger economy. Barra, however, said of a shaky year for GM and the economy, “we really aren’t seeing it.” 

“We think the market’s gonna be about the same as it was last year,” she told CBS News.

Barra touted the “tremendous number of vehicles” that GM makes in the U.S., and when asked what it truly means for something to be “American-made” — considering many of the parts are often sourced from overseas — she said “it starts with where the vehicle is designed. Where all the engineering is done.”

Barra said more than half of GM’s vehicles are assembled in the U.S. and that a majority of the components are sourced from America. She also said GM is continuing its efforts to fill job positions in the U.S.

“One of the things we do is we work with the military, and as people are ending their service to our country, putting them in a training program so they can then work in our dealerships,” Barra said. She also said GM has a “very robust apprenticeship program” for its factory workers. 

Asked about concerns workers may have about automation, Barry said GM has been using robotic assistance to help build its vehicles for decades. 

“We focus on jobs that are either repetitive and maybe have ergonomic issues, so people get hurt doing them, so we focus on safety and we focus on ergonomics,” Barra said. “We also focus on, there’s certain jobs that people don’t want to do. We focus on that, and we look at how do we make each of our team members more efficient.”

She also noted there are some instances in which “the precision of the job requires automation.”