White House, on Opel, says GM makes it own decisions

Published: 04 Nov 2009 17:21:23 PST

WASHINGTON, Nov 4 - The White House turned aside questions on Wednesday about the reason that General Motors decided not to sell Opel, saying that the auto company makes its own business decisions.

"I'll reiterate that business decisions by GM are made by the corporate leadership at GM and not by anybody at the White House," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, a day after U.S. President Barack Obama met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

German politicians seethed and unions tore up a deal to cut costs in protest after GM decided not to sell Opel, its European unit.