By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, July 6 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp said on Monday it will build a new $3.6 billion auto plant in Texas and shift some truck production to the United States from Mexico.
The Japanese automaker said the new 2.5-million-square-foot building will be located on its San Antonio manufacturing campus and will open by 2030, creating 2,000 jobs. The company said it will move production of its mid-size Tacoma pickup truck from its Baja California plant in Mexico to Texas when the factory is completed.
Toyota will continue to build Tacoma trucks at its Guanajuato plant in Mexico. Toyota already produces Tundra trucks and SUVs at its existing San Antonio assembly plant on the site where the new facility will be built and a new 500,000-square-foot rear axle plant is set to open in the autumn.
President Donald Trump has pressured automakers to move auto production to the United States and has hiked tariffs on autos, steel, aluminum and parts.
Toyota said it remains committed to its operations throughout Mexico, Canada and the United States and urged Trump to extend a North American free trade deal that automakers say is critical to integrated auto production.
In 2020, Toyota moved Tacoma production from San Antonio to the Guanajuato plant, alongside the Baja plant that had produced the truck since 2004.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the investment will qualify for a $20 million state grant and other incentives.
A White House spokesperson said Toyota’s investment announcement “is one of many being driven by the Trump administration’s agenda of tariffs, deregulation, and tax cuts.”
Last year, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda wore a 2024 Trump-Vance T-shirt and a red “Make America Great Again” Trump hat, drawing praise from Trump and criticism from environmentalists.
Toyota successfully lobbied Congress and the White House to roll back California emissions rules and other EV requirements, but has also faced billions of dollars in higher costs from Trump tariffs.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Nia Williams)
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