Toyota Motor CEO Akio Toyoda stated his company had increased its U.S. production in the last 3 decades, and that the Japanese brand must be also be considered as a U.S. producer.
Toyoda’s remark comes as international automakers deal with pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has demanded that more cars sold in the United States be made in the country to increase jobs and diminish the United States trade deficit.
Trump singled out Toyota in a tweet last month, slamming the plans by the automaker to develop a second plant in Mexico. Ever since, Toyota has announced plans to invest $10 billion in its U.S. operations to boost production and produce more jobs.
“Things are really different in 2017 than they were in the 1980s. Today, we produce a great deal of automobiles locally and we have developed a strong local supply chain,” Akio Toyoda informed press reporters at an event in Tokyo, referring to the U.S.
“We may be a Japanese brand … but we’re also one of America’s car makers.”
The United States is Toyota’s largest market, and automobile sales in the nation consist of around one-quarter of the company’s worldwide sales. It runs 10 manufacturing plants in the nation, and locally produces around 56 percent of its automobiles sold there, according to estimations based on company data.
Donald Trump has concentrated on protectionist trade policies in his very weeks in office, officially withdrawing the United States from the Trans Pacific Partnership trade talks and has stated he would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Toyoda said the automaker would adjust to any guideline modifications to the NAFTA trade deal between the United States, Canada and Mexico.
