Toyota to add 400 US jobs after Trump slams Mexico plan
[TOKYO] Toyota said it will invest US$600 million and create 400 jobs at one of its US plants - just weeks after Donald Trump criticised the Japanese auto giant for planning to open a factory in Mexico.
The US president has pressured automakers, both American and foreign, into boosting production and hiring in the United States, threatening them with punitive tariffs if they move factories and jobs overseas.
"This expansion project is part of Toyota's localisation strategy to build vehicles where they are sold," the automaker, which was singled out by Mr Trump in a Twitter broadside, said in a statement Tuesday.
The investment is aimed at boosting SUV production at a factory in Indiana, the home state of Vice-President Mike Pence.
Toyota currently has 5,000 employees in the plant in the small city of Princeton, part of the approximately 40,000 people it directly employs in the US, a Toyota spokeswoman told AFP.
Toyota said its planned investment of US$10 billion in the US over the next five years "shows Toyota's commitment to continued US investment".
The project to modernise the plant and increase its competitiveness is set to begin in 2019, Toyota said.
Earlier this month, while still president-elect, Mr Trump threatened Toyota with tariffs over a planned new vehicle plant in Mexico.
"NO WAY! Build plant in US or pay big border tax," he tweeted.
Toyota has said it will build a new factory in Mexico, which is expected to begin production in 2019.
AFP
KEYWORDS IN THIS ARTICLE
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
Transport & Logistics
Chinese share of French EV market slumps after incentives curbed
Ferrari unveils US$423,000 sports car with 1960s bloodline
Airbus called for compensation to take on money-losing Spirit operations: sources
China’s electric cars keep improving, a worry for rivals elsewhere
Air Canada reports bigger loss than market expectations as costs rise
Maersk raises full-year profit guidance after strong quarter