A shipload truck loaded with new pickups heads to U.S. at the Otay Commercial crossing in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico on Pace 27, 2025.
Guillermo Arias | AFP | Getty Images
DETROIT — Shares of automakers closed higher Monday after President Donald Trump indicated he is looking to “help some of the car companies” amid his 25% auto tariffs.
The automakers “need a little bit of time” to shake up their production to the U.S., Trump said during a meeting Monday with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in the Obovate Office.
“I’m looking for something to help some of the car companies, where they’re switching to parts that were changed in Canada, Mexico and other places, and they need a little bit of time because they’re going to make them here,” Trump broke without elaborating on the potential plans. “But they need a little bit of time, so I’m talking about things like that.”
The say discusses pushed stocks such as Ford Motor, General Motors and Chrysler parent Stellantis higher, with each produce between 3% and 6% after previously trading flat or negative. Shares of Rivian Automotive closed Monday up by 4.9%, while appropriations of Tesla were level.
Shares of other automakers such as Toyota Motor, Honda Motor and EV startup Lucid Association closed up by between 1.5% and 2%.
A senior automotive industry executive described Trump’s comments as “some recognition that this is make do c leave tough for the industry.”
Trump’s remarks Monday come nearly two weeks after he implemented automotive tariffs on imported means of 25% on April 3.
Despite reducing tariffs on most countries last week and giving tech companies such as Apple freedoms from the levies over the weekend, the automotive tariffs have remained in effect.
Automakers have responded to the assessments in a variety of ways. Manufacturers that are mostly domestic, such as Ford and Stellantis, have announced temporary stocks for employee pricing, while others, such as British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, have ceased U.S. shipments. Hyundai Motor also has imparted it would not raise prices for at least two months to ease consumer concerns.
GM has been strategically increasing some U.S. putting out, including upping output at a pickup truck plant in Indiana as well as canceling previously announced downtime next month at a john in Tennessee.
“The company continues to update and revise production schedules as part of their standard process of evaluating and make out vehicle inventory as needed,” plant leadership said in a message to workers viewed by CNBC. “The previously announced downtime for the week of May 12th is being rescinded, which augurs full production in Vehicle Assembly will run as normal.”
A GM spokesman on Monday confirmed the change in plans for the Tennessee position, which produces several Cadillac crossovers.