--- title: Trump Says He May Eliminate Electric Car Subsidies for GM description: President Trump said he may eliminate electric car subsidies for General Motors because of its factory closures and thousands of layoffs. canonical: https://time.com/5464846/trump-electric-car-subsidies-general-motors/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-27T19:46:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:07:14.293Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Threatens to Pull Electric Car Subsidies Over GM Plant Closures og:description: Trump has expressed anger over GM’s plan to close five North American factories og:url: https://time.com/5464846/trump-electric-car-subsidies-general-motors/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68e72b22dcf91c9b/698940047cdbac3f6dd5e864/general-motors-electric-car.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: general-motors-electric-car og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Threatens to Pull Electric Car Subsidies Over GM Plant Closures twitter:description: Trump has expressed anger over GM’s plan to close five North American factories twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68e72b22dcf91c9b/698940047cdbac3f6dd5e864/general-motors-electric-car.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Threatens to Pull Electric Car Subsidies Over GM Plant Closures > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=54dd5309-6d9f-444a-a401-1756e68ec95c&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Kudlow Comments on Trump's Threats to Pull Electric Car Subsidies Over GM Plant Closures [Watch (HLS stream): Kudlow Comments on Trump's Threats to Pull Electric Car Subsidies Over GM Plant Closures](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SZzwPk9D.m3u8) (1:44)  _Published 2018-11-27. President Donald Trump said he may try to eliminate electric car subsidies for General Motors Co. after it announced it will close factories and lay off thousands of U.S. workers_ by [Justin Sink and Ryan Beene / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Justin Sink and Ryan Beene / Bloomberg Contributor Nov 27, 2018 7:46 PM UTC President Donald Trump said he may try to eliminate electric car subsidies for General Motors Co. after it announced it will close factories and lay off thousands of U.S. workers by [Justin Sink and Ryan Beene / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Justin Sink and Ryan Beene / Bloomberg Contributor Nov 27, 2018 7:46 PM UTC (Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump said he may try to eliminate electric car subsidies for General Motors Co. after it announced it will close factories and lay off thousands of U.S. workers. GM fell as much as 2.9 percent and traded down 2.4 percent at $36.73 at 2:16 p.m. in New York. Trump has repeatedly expressed anger over GM’s plan to close five North American factories and since its chief executive Mary Barra announced the layoffs on Monday. “There’s great disappointment that it seems like GM would rather build its electric cars in China rather than the United States,” Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday, just before Trump’s tweets. “We are going to be looking at certain subsidies regarding electric cars and others and whether they should apply or not. Can’t say anything final about that, but we’re looking into it.” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1067494680416407552) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1067494682249318402) Currently, consumers who purchase a fully-electric vehicle are eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit. The credit begins to phase-out after an automaker sells 200,000 eligible vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Bolt electric car. Tesla Inc. has already reached the cap and GM is expected to be next. Both companies have lobbied in Washington for an extension. Some members of Congress have proposed raising the cap or otherwise extending the credit, including Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, and Senator Dean Heller of Nevada, where Tesla operates a large battery factory. Heller, a Republican, lost his re-election bid this month to Democrat Jacky Rosen. ## Transcript [00:00] We're in very good shape, China not so good, I'm [00:04] not here to critique or second guess the Chinese [00:07] economy, but most observers believe China to be in a [00:11] slump, whereas the United States in a very strong solid [00:15] position going into this summit. However again to [00:18] repeat the president said There's a good possibility [00:24] that we can make a deal, and he is open to it. But on [00:28] the other hand, if these conditions I mentioned a few [00:30] moments ago are not met and not dealt with, you [00:33] know, the President said, look he's. [00:39] Perfectly happy to stand on his tariff policies. It's a [00:42] great disappointment, obviously. The President [00:44] indicated his own disappointment. He believes, [00:49] as frankly the Prime Minister of Canada, Trudeau, [00:52] believes that the US MCA deal was [00:57] a great help. To the automobile industry, and to auto [01:01] workers. And, by the way, they made those statements [01:05] separately. And yet, GM comes in right after the [01:09] deal. By the way, that deal will be signed in Argentina [01:13] with the US and Canadian representative. So, there's [01:16] great disappointment there. There's disappointment, [01:19] that it seems like GM would rather build its electric car [01:23] in China rather than in the United States. We [01:28] are going to be looking at certain subsidies regarding [01:32] electric cars and others, whether they should apply or [01:36] not. I can't say anything final about that but we're [01:39] looking into it, again, that reflects the President's own [01:42] disappointment regarding these actions. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5464846/trump-electric-car-subsidies-general-motors/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5464846/trump-electric-car-subsidies-general-motors/"},"headline":"President Trump Threatens to Pull Electric Car Subsidies Over GM Plant Closures","datePublished":"2018-11-27T19:46:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T08:07:14.293Z","description":"Trump has expressed anger over GM’s plan to close five North American factories","url":"https://time.com/5464846/trump-electric-car-subsidies-general-motors/","keywords":["White House","Auto","Bloomberg","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68e72b22dcf91c9b/698940047cdbac3f6dd5e864/general-motors-electric-car.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Sink and Ryan Beene / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68e72b22dcf91c9b/698940047cdbac3f6dd5e864/general-motors-electric-car.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"general-motors-electric-car","caption":"Latest Consumer Technology Products On Display At CES 2016","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5464846/trump-electric-car-subsidies-general-motors/","name":"President Trump Threatens to Pull Electric Car Subsidies Over GM Plant Closures"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Kudlow Comments on Trump's Threats to Pull Electric Car Subsidies Over GM Plant Closures","description":"President Donald Trump said he may try to eliminate electric car subsidies for General Motors Co. after it announced it will close factories and lay off thousands of U.S. workers","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SZzwPk9D/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-11-27T20:37:03.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SZzwPk9D.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5464846/trump-electric-car-subsidies-general-motors/","duration":"PT1M44S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5464846/trump-electric-car-subsidies-general-motors/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```