General Motors officially confirmed on Thursday that it will cease production of its popular Buick SUV in China and relocate the production line back to the United States. This move comes amid escalating tensions in US-China trade relations and the Trump administration’s push for “reshoring” production.
GM plans to halt production of the Buick Envision in China and shift the production of the next generation of this mid-size SUV to its Fairfax assembly plant in Kansas, with production expected to begin in 2028.
The Envision has been produced by SAIC-GM, a joint venture of General Motors based in Shandong, China, since 2017 and imported to the United States. It has been the only model imported from China by GM in the past decade. Over the last three years, the Envision has maintained stable annual sales of over 40,000 units in the U.S., accounting for about 25% of Buick’s total sales in the country.
According to reports from Reuters, GM’s decision to relocate its production line is primarily driven by the following factors:
1. Heavy tariff burden:
Since the outbreak of the U.S.-China trade war in 2018, the Chinese-produced SUV has faced a punitive 25% tariff. With the escalation of the trade war last year, the tariff costs have severely squeezed the profit margins of this model in the U.S. market.
2. White House policy pressure:
President Trump has been pressuring multinational companies to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. GM explicitly stated in its announcement that this decision is aimed at “strengthening domestic manufacturing layout and supporting American employment,” which is also part of its $5.5 billion investment plan in the U.S. announced last year.
3. Political swing states demand:
The “Made in China” identity of the Envision has long been criticized by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union and key swing states such as Michigan and Ohio.
GM’s withdrawal from the production line also reflects the increasingly severe operational crisis faced by its joint venture with SAIC-GM in China.
According to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) and industry data, the annual sales volume of SAIC-GM (including Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac) has plummeted from a peak of 2 million units to less than 800,000 units in 2025. With the price competition of domestically produced electric vehicles in China, traditional foreign brands like Buick have lost their premium pricing ability, and their market share has been eroded.
With a sharp decline in sales, SAIC-GM’s capacity utilization rate in its Chinese factories has dropped to below 50%. Moving high-profit export models like the Envision back to the U.S., GM has undoubtedly stripped away the joint venture’s remaining “quality assets.” This logic mirrors recent actions such as LVMH selling its DFS business in Hong Kong and Macau – when the Chinese market shifts from a “growth engine” to a “financial burden,” foreign giants are collectively liquidating their assets in China to cut losses.