GM clashes with Trump over plan to slash up to 14,000 workers

General Motors said it will slash thousands of jobs in Michigan and Ohio as it scuttles slow-selling sedans and shifts toward ♔elect🀅ric cars — a plan that’s getting no traction with President Trump.

The Detroit auto giant, looking to slash $6 billion in costs by 2020, said Monday it will halt production at several plants in the US and Canada, cut as many as 14,800 jobs ꦑand ditch several models including the Chevy Volt, Impala and Cruze, as well as the Cadillac CT6.

🍬Wall Street cheered th♔e move, sending GM shares up 4.8 percent, to $37.65.

But the cuts will hit GM plants, including one that employs more than 1,600 w🌳orkers in Lordstown, Ohio — a voter s🌠tronghold for Trump in a swing state that helped him clinch the 2016 presidential election.

On Monday, Trump — who has repeatedly promised to🎶 add jobs to the struggling manufacturing belt — said he had spoken to Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra on the phone ahead of GM’s Monday announcement, urging her to at least open a new plant in Ohio to offset the job losses.

“Hopefully she’s going to come back and put something [in], but I told her, I’m not happy,” Trump told reporters Monday. “You know, the United States saved 🐬General Motors, and fo𝓀r her to take that company out of Ohio is not good. I think she’s going to put something back in soon.”

Trump — who in the past has threatened US automakers with tariffs to penalize moving manufacturi🎉ng outside the US — amped up his languag𒈔e further in a .

“They better damn well open a new plant there very quickly,” Trump told the papꦆer. “I told them,𝄹 ‘You’re playing around with the wrong person.’”

GM officia♎ls confirmed to Thℱe Post that Barra and Trump had spoken late Sunday but declined to elaborate.

In addition to shutting down seven plants, GM said it will cut its salaried workforce by 15 percent through a mix of “voluntary and involuntary programs.” The cuts will result in 25 percent fewer wh🍎ite-collar executive jobs, which it said will “streamline decision ma🌌king.”

GM will scuttle the Cadillac CT6, the Impala, the Cruzꦿe and Chevy Volt — a hybrid car that hasn’t sold well as consumers focu꧑s increasingly on all-electric vehicles.

Barra said she’s maki🎉ng the drastic cuts in a bid to “transfoꦇrm the company” with a focus on electric and self-driving cars — despite healthy profits at GM.

“We think it’s appropriate to get in front of it while the business and the economy are strong,” Barra said.
General Motors’ move was “callous” an🔯d “will not go unchallenged,” the United Auto Workers union said Monday.