If you had the pleasure of listening to President Trump speak at one of his rallies, you will hear that he loves tariffs. The rest of the world is not so sure because unlike President Trump, companies and consumers pay the tariffs. Tariffs are paid by the importer of the good to the Treasury, the importer then either/or has to eat the tariff cutting down on their margins or the company using the good has to increase prices to offset the tariff in order to receive a healthy margin. Generally, the largest companies can do this the best.

In an article by Eric Atkins of Reuters, GM expects tariffs could cost it up to $4 billion this after paying $3.1 billion last year.

GM’s CFO Paul Jacobson, said the 2025 tariff total was less than predicted and 40% of the amount was offset by actions that including cost reductions and moving production to avoid the import taxes.

GM has reduced shifts in Ontario and boosted production in Fort Wayne, Indiana for truck assembly. It has retooled a plant in Orion, Michigan to make more pickup trucks. The production of the Buick Envision SUV has moved from China to the US and the Chevrolet Equinox and Blazer are being moved from Mexico to Spring Hill, Tennessee.

For 2026, GM believes the 2025 tariff number will fall.

Government policies concerning electric vehicles meant a $6 billion. Part of the total is $1.8 billion for closing a plant to build BrightDrop electric vans. Contract cancellations and supplier settlements account for the rest of the charge.

For the 4th quarter, GM beat analysts’ estimates with pretax earnings was $2.8 billion compared with $2.51 billion a year ago. Earnings per share was $2.51 versus $2.22 a year earlier.

GM is expecting an annual adjusted core profit of between $13 billion and $15 billion in 2026 which will likely be higher than analysts’ expectations of $13.4 billion.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, one of the reasons to buy the buy companies is their ability to adjust for government policies. Often government policies are more favorable to companies, but governments can throw in surprises. The can is what rattles the markets, but if the street sees companies adapting, then the companies can still make profits.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.