Posted on 11/13/2025 11:51:27 AM PST by DFG
General Motors (GM) has directed several thousand of its suppliers to scrub their supply chains of parts from China, four people familiar with the matter said, reflecting automakers’ growing frustration over geopolitical disruptions to their operations.
GM executives have been telling suppliers they should find alternatives to China for their raw materials and parts, with the goal of eventually moving their supply chains out of the country entirely, the people said.
The automaker has set a 2027 deadline for some suppliers to dissolve their China sourcing ties, some of the sources said.
GM approached some suppliers with the directive in late 2024, but the effort took on fresh urgency this past spring, during the early days of an escalating US-China trade battle, the sources said.
GM executives have said it is part of a broader strategy to improve the company’s supply chain “resiliency,” the sources said.
Geopolitical tensions between the two superpowers have left car executives in triage mode throughout 2025.
US President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs and bouts of industry panic over potential rare-Earth bottlenecks and computer-chip shortages have auto companies rethinking their ties to China, long an important source of parts and raw materials.
Automakers and suppliers have responded to Trump’s push for investment and jobs by taking early steps to expand US factory work.
But industry executives say they also sense a longer-term, bipartisan shift in US-China relations, and some are moving to unwind China ties that are decades in the making.
The GM effort targets parts and materials that go into cars built in North America, where the company makes the majority of its vehicles globally. GM prefers to obtain parts from North American factories for vehicles built in the region but is open to non-US supply lines outside of China, the sources said.
GM’s directive includes several other countries that, like China, are subject to US trade restrictions because of national-security concerns, such as Russia and Venezuela.
China is by far the largest source for automotive parts on the list. The automaker already had been among the most active car companies in weaning itself from a reliance on China for battery materials and computer chips.
It has partnered with a US-based rare-earths company and invested in a lithium mine in Nevada for future electric-vehicle battery materials, for example. But the latest effort is broader and includes more basic components and materials.
A GM spokesperson declined to comment on the company’s discussions with its supply base. GM CEO Mary Barra has described efforts to move more of the company’s supply chain to the US.
“We’ve been working now for a few years to have supply chain resiliency,” Barra said during GM’s quarterly conference call in October, adding that the automaker tries to source parts in the same country where it builds the cars, when possible.
Shilpan Amin, GM’s global purchasing chief, said at a conference last month that the risk of supply disruptions has forced the automaker to move away from simply tapping the lowest-cost countries.
“Resiliency is important – making sure you have more control over your supply chain and you know exactly what is coming where,” he said.
Carmakers fret over tariffs, parts shortages The US and China agreed to roll back a number of tariffs and export barriers following a meeting in late October between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Still, auto executives have grown tired of the volatile trade dynamics between the countries and the fallout on their supply chains, in an industry where product-planning cycles stretch many years.
Parts suppliers and carmakers already had been tilting their supply chains away from China to avoid tariffs put on during Trump’s first term.
This year, a barrage of China tariffs unleashed soon after Trump took office triggered a series of counterpunches from China. In April, China clamped down on exports of parts that contain rare-earth elements that are used extensively inside cars, sending auto companies racing to stockpile components.
In October, China added restrictions on shipments of more rare-earth elements. Worries over potential factory disruptions flared again late last month, when an intellectual-property dispute between Chinese and Dutch authorities led China to halt shipments from supplier Nexperia, which sells cheap computer chips that go into electronics in cars worldwide. The move prompted industry warnings of widespread factory interruptions.
Rewiring supply chains can take years For parts suppliers, re-routing supply chains outside of China can be costly and complex. China has become so dominant in some areas of the automotive supply chain – such as lighting, electronics and tool and die makers, which forge custom components – that it is hard to find alternatives, supplier executives say.
“It’s a big effort. Suppliers are scrambling,” an executive at one large parts maker said of GM’s initiative.
Collin Shaw, head of MEMA, the Vehicle Suppliers Association, said car companies and big suppliers have been working to “de-risk” their supply chains by cutting back on content from China and some other countries. But the network of commodity parts and raw materials inside China is deeply rooted, complicating efforts to find alternatives.
“In some cases this has been 20 or 30 years in the making, and we’re trying to undo it in a few years,” he said. “It’s not going to happen that fast.”
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Should have done this many years ago, but finally they see the light.
Sounds like a big win for American parts makers and American jobs!
Mary finally did something right. This doesn’t excuse the rest of her stupidity but even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Feeling the heat.
Starting in November 2025, new tariffs on certain imported Chinese auto-related products took effect, but some were also temporarily reduced or adjusted. Additionally, a separate, 25% tariff on imported medium- and heavy-duty trucks and their parts went into effect on November 1, impacting the auto supply chain. The 25% tariffs on certain Chinese vehicles and auto parts imposed previously are still in place. Trump is applying pressure and winning.
GM in China is prevalent and has a joint venture with Chinese partner, SAIC Motors. An example of their cohabitation is some of the cars sold in the US are made exclusive in China like the Buick Envision. It is rumored that GM will be no more in 2027 and the cars will be at the hands of China as they currently own 50%. This can also impact Cadillac and Chevrolet under the GM stable.
wy69
Doubt it. MX, Taiwan, S Korea, Brazil, it will be anywhere but here.
I’m ok with anywhere but China at least.
How did parts get made there in the first place?
BS pure and simple.
Shareholders are the ultimate reason they went to China in the first place. When they see the cost difference now and reduced returns they will simply bail.
Since COVID hit I saw the companies greed first hand when I built some emergency tools for the respirator project in record time. I came through with the tooling, they asked for another part to be built as fast as humanly possible and when I asked about part volumes they told me that it didn’t matter, they were just interim tools and only needed to supply parts until their suppliers could get tooling in China up and running and past the PPA and PPE limits that they were putting on their exports.
I gave them a ludicrous price right there and then, hung up the phone, and swore I would never put a single penny in their coffers again as long as I live.
I don’t remember how much Trump awarded them for those things but we all knew China was the cause of it, and for them to do that to keep their overseas suppliers happy and give them that money to save our own people (at the time, we didn’t know the truth on those things) so they could pad the bottom line, was enough to show me where their true loyalties lie now.
They said move out of China. These globalists didn’t say moved to the USA. Don’t assume they will do the common sense thing. Remember they are still economic traitors.
I am not ok. Turn in your patriot card.
Once they turn America into a 3rd world country then our elites will make it here.
I naively thought that “No China Suppliers” = “American Suppliers.”
Thanks for setting me straight.
Yes. Long overdue. We should be untangling every dependence in every industry we have on Communist China. (and there are a lot of them)
Agree maybe now the electronics won’t burn out every 15 thousand miles.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
“...taking early steps to expand US factory work”
Paragraph #8
“They said move out of China. These globalists didn’t say moved to the USA.”
You could try reading the article.
“GM prefers to obtain parts from North American factories for vehicles built in the region but is open to non-US supply lines outside of China, the sources said.”
Now we need to focus on quality parts, things don't need to break down in a a few years.
Yes non us supply I.e. free traitor talk
Gee GM dont do anything too rash.
I just bought all Gates parts for surpentine belt, idler pulley and tensioner pulley assembly. Idler pulley - Canada. Tensioner assembly - Mexico. Belt - frikking China.
Melling waterpump - “assembled in the USA”
TRW, MOOG, Timken and many other good old names from decades ago are what I specifically buy and 10-15 years ago, I would get mostly Made in the USA. No longer the case. The gates belt made in china surprised me because it’s the first one I’ve seen from them.
Many Genuine GM electronics parts have been made in china for several years now. The engines are made in Mexico. The plastic parts are made in Canada. The UAW workers are assemblers of sub-assemblies made elsewhere from parts made everywhere, except the US. I think the bodies are the exception due to the size and shipping costs of something so big.
I’ll still buy the good old names because they still have their headquarters here which means some jobs for US citizens, plus they have decades of experience in the parts they make.
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