Hyundai announced plans Monday to invest a fresh $20 billion in the US, including a new steel plant in Louisiana — making the South Korean automaker the latest major foreign firm to move more operations to America to avoid looming tariffs.
“Money is pouring in, and we want to keep it that way,” President Trump said at the White House.
“This investment is a clear demonstration that tariffs very strongly work.”
Hyundai is expected to construct the $5.8 billion plant near Donaldsonville, about 40 miles south of Baton Rouge.
Trump claimed the steel facility would create more than 1,400 jobs as part of the investment.
Hyundai already has factories in Alabama and Georgia, but the Louisiana steel plant would be its first such facility in North America and provide metal supplies to the neighboring states.
“The company will also be massively increasing its auto manufacturing in Georgia and investing billions of dollars in advanced American technology companies,” Trump celebrated.
The president announced a 25% tariff on foreign-made steel and aluminum in February, but said metals produced in the US would not be impacted.
“I’m simplifying our tariffs and steel and aluminum so that everyone can understand exactly what it means. It’s 25%, without exceptions or exemptions,” Trump said at the time.
“And that’s all countries, no matter where it comes from, all countries. If it’s made in the United States of America, there is no tariff, zero,” he added.
Chung Eui-sun, the executive chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, congratulated Trump on the “remarkable” start to his administration at the White House — and said the company has a shared vision for “American industrial leadership.”
Monday’s announcement came as Trump faces an April 2 deadline to install reciprocal tariffs on goods from around the world — a date the administration has promoted as “Liberation Day.”
Other foreign companies, including Japan’s Softbank and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., recently announced major planned investments in the US to try to curry favor with the administration before the tariffs kick in.
“Hyundai will be producing steel in America and making its cars in America, and as a result, they’ll not have to pay any tariffs. You know, there are no tariffs if you make your product in America. So it’s something — that’s why so many people are coming,” Trump said in his White House remarks.
South Korea has a massive trade surplus with the US, and is likely to be affected in some way by the April 2 tariffs.
“We’ve been ripped off by every country in the world, friend and foe,” Trump said Friday about the upcoming duties.
On Monday, the president revealed he may give a “lot of countries breaks” on April 2, but didn’t say which nations would be affected.
Hyundai CEO José Muñoz, speaking to Axios before Trump came to power in January, said the then-president-elect’s promised tariff policies incentivized the company to come to the US.
“We decided to invest big time in America as the most important market,” Muñoz said.
“So the best way for us to navigate tariffs is to increase localization.”
