The impacts will be felt more broadly in many industries, and the question is when the choice becomes to preserve profits by raising prices.
For everyone thinking that maybe tariffs wouldn’t have a big impact on the U.S., automaker General Motor’s earnings release and call on Tuesday morning, July 22, were a reminder of how bad they can be.The Numbers
Revenue was down 1.8% year over year, from $47.97 billion to $47.12 billion. A little off. However, net income attributable to stockholders, also known as profit, for the quarter was down by $1.038 billion, or -35.4%, year over year.
For the full half year, revenue was up 0.2% year-over-year, from $90.98 billion in 2024 to $91.14 billion in 2025. Net income, though, dropped from $5.91 billion to $4.68 billion, a reduction of $1.23 billion or -20.9%.
In Q2, there was a net impact of $1.1 billion due to tariffs, and that was “slightly lower” than expected. That could have come in many ways. Steel and aluminum faced tariffs of 25%. There were tariffs on goods coming from Canada and Mexico, and significant portions of automobile manufacturing are done in both countries. None of this counts the tariffs on copper, which are supposed to go into effect next month.
