By Kalea Hall
DETROIT (Reuters) -General Motors plans to increase production of light-duty trucks at its Fort Wayne, Indiana, assembly plant, it said in a webcast sent to plant employees on Thursday and viewed by Reuters, after President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on auto imports.
GM CEO Mary Barra had hinted at the possibility of increasing the output of trucks in the United States during GM’s January earnings call in response to tariffs. Automakers in the United States utilize a complicated supply chain integrated throughout North America, with production facilities situated in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
“From a Mexico perspective, we do build trucks in Mexico and in Canada and in the United States. And so we have the capacity in the United States to shift some of that,” Barra said on the January earnings call. GM shares lost 4.3% on Thursday.
The Fort Wayne plant makes the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks, which GM also manufactures at plants in Mexico and Canada. About half of GM’s large pickup truckproduction is done in Mexico and Canada, according to a recent Barclays report.
Trump has said that high tariffs will induce companies to relocate manufacturing to the United States, but that process would take years and in the meantime could add thousands of dollars to the cost of a car. The Detroit automakers may use excess capacity to shift some existing production, but additional factories would take several years to build.
GM may also add overtime days to the schedule, plant director Dennys Pimenta told employees in the webcast.
In a letter seen by Reuters to United Auto Workers Local 2209 members at Fort Wayne, local shop chairman Rich LeTourneau told employees that as part of the line-speed increase at the plant, 225 to 250 jobs will be added.
“Always remember volume is our friend and protects our job security,” he wrote.
GM said in a statement on Thursday that it will hire temporary workers for the Fort Wayne assembly plant, saying that will be part of “operational adjustments” at the plant “to support current manufacturing and business needs.”
A company source said several hundred temporary workers will be hired to increase employment at the plant.
GM said that to implement the changes at Fort Wayne, the plant will be taken down from April 22-25, following the Easter holiday.
The company’s plants in Oshawa, Canada, and Silao, Mexico, where the trucks are also made, are currently running regular production, the company source said.
(Reporting by Kalea Hall in Detroit; Additional reporting by Nora Eckert in Detroit; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis)
