General Motors saw its first quarter revenue rise 2.3%, but its adjusted earnings and net income declined. The company’s top leaders delayed a call with investors, analysts and the media about the quarter due to President Donald Trump’s decision to ease tariffs. Officials will talk Thursday morning about the results and the potential impact of the president’s move.
GM CFO Paul Jacobson said the company’s current earnings forecasts shouldn’t be relied upon due to Trump’s tariff changes.
The company reported adjusted earnings of $3.49 billion on revenue of $44.02 billion for the quarter just ended. While revenue rose, the adjusted earnings fell 9.8% compared to year-ago numbers. GM’s net income fared slightly better sliding from $2.98 billion to $2.78 billion, or a decline of 6.6%.
Normally the company would talk in detail about what caused the decline, and offer updated guidance about its earnings for the remainder of the year. The company delayed the call to get a better handle of the impact of Trump’s move.
GM’s numbers
“We believe the future impact of tariffs could be significant,” GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson told a media call. “We’re telling folks not to rely on the prior guidance, and we’ll update when we have more information around tariffs.”
In January, the company forecast net income would fall between $11.2 billion to $12.5 billion for 2025, not including the impact of automotive tariffs.
GM’s profits took a hit after a supplier fire in January delayed delivery of scores of pickups.
Jacobson did note the company was “performing pretty well,” but rising costs — up $400 million — put a dent in the company’s earnings. The company also took a hit due to a fire at a supplier for its full-size pickups in January. This delayed the delivery of scores of the highly profitable trucks.
What changed
After implementing 25% tariffs on vehicles and parts coming to the U.S. from Canada and Mexico, industry officials have pushed back on the moves, repeatedly encouraging the president to remove the levies.
Trump plans to lighten the burden, cutting duties on foreign parts in vehicles produced in the U.S. as well as eliminating the doubling tariffs on cars and the components used to make them. (Headlight.News has a separate story about the changes to the Trump tariffs)
The formal announcement about the move and the details has not yet been made.
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