What Still Builds America

By Mike Trevorrow, senior vice president, global manufacturing, General Motors

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, we should think about what has built this country and what will keep building it next.

Every day, we are helping shape a future that is increasingly defined by advanced technology. And as we continue our focus on building products customers love, our progress will depend on how we incorporate these advancements with the people, engineering, supply chains, and energy capabilities required in modern manufacturing.

The future will be defined not only by what we invent, but by what we can deliver at scale. In our industry, new ideas and processes need to work with precision, not just once, but millions of times. This is how we turn innovation into something people can rely on for their lives and livelihoods every day.

At GM, that connection is not theoretical. It is visible in our plants, our people, our supply base and the communities connected to them.

GM employs the most people of any automaker in the U.S. One in 10 American autoworkers is a GM employee. We contributed nearly $50 billion to U.S. GDP in 2025, and in 2026 our investment in American manufacturing and facilities alone is $9 billion, with $7 billion more in U.S. research and development.

That impact starts nationally but is truly felt on the local level. Across the country, GM's footprint helps anchor economic activity in places where building things still matters through the suppliers that tool up alongside us, the dealers that sell and service our vehicles, and the paychecks that circulate through local communities.

In Michigan, for example, every $10 in GDP generated directly by GM turns into about $17 in total economic activity across the state's suppliers and local businesses. Last year, that impact reached $46.3 billion in total GDP contributions.

I am proud to call Michigan home, and I have seen what manufacturing means beyond the factory floor. It means steady work, strong communities, and local businesses that grow alongside plants and suppliers. It means pride in making something real.

We're not just committing to plants and research. We're also making long-term investments in American workers.

GM invests more than $70 million annually in skills training. Our Technical Learning University upskills more than 2,500 employees per year in advanced manufacturing, electrification, and emerging technology. Over the past three years, we have nearly tripled our investment in the GM-UAW Apprenticeship Program, which gives the next generation of skilled trade professionals more than 8,000 hours of classroom instruction and hands-on training.

We have also invested more than $110 million in STEAM education programs and partnered with 18 community colleges nationwide to build a pipeline of workers who are ready for the jobs that exist today and the ones being created right now.

If we want the next generation of breakthroughs to be developed and deployed here, we have to keep building the conditions that make production possible. That means skilled workers, strong supply chains, reliable energy, and the clarity to invest for the long term.

That ability to invent, build, and scale here is what will keep America competitive for the next 250 years.