Hyperdrive

GM CEO’s 16-Month Effort to Repair Trump Ties Shatters in a Day

  • President goes on the attack over ventilator production
  • Criticisms include an old grudge against Mary Barra over Ohio
Donald Trump and GM CEO Mary Barra in 2017.Photographer: Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images
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Sixteen months after Mary Barra angered Donald Trump by announcing plans to close several U.S. factories in states the president vowed to revive, the General Motors Co. CEO is back on the outs with the White House.

Unlike in late 2018, Trump’s Friday fracasBloomberg Terminal over ventilators caught GM completely off guard, according to people familiar with the matter. Trump first went on a Twitter tirade, accusingBloomberg Terminal the company of taking too long to make the desperately needed medical devices and of trying to gouge the government. By the evening, he dredged up an old grudge, taking another shot at the automaker for closing a car factory in Ohio.