As the US government and Wall Street digested details of General Motors’ and Chrysler’s revamped restructuring plans on Wednesday, one thing became clear: even with another big infusion of government aid, the com­panies are not yet out of trouble.

Assuming that they secure the up to $21.6bn (€17.2bn) of additional aid they are seeking from Washington, the companies still need to strike key deals with unions and bondholders, negotiate bail-out packages from several foreign governments, and help line up another mini-bail-out for their teetering supply base.