President-elect Donald Trump sent a clear warning to General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) - build in
America or face large border taxes.
Coincidence or not, Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F)
announced it will scrap a $1.6
billion investment it had earmarked for a factory in Mexico and will invest $700 million in Michigan.
It was only a matter of time before Trump moved on to the next major auto manufacturer - Toyota Motor Corp (ADR) (NYSE:
TM).
Even though Toyota is a Japan-based company, it has a heavy manufacturing presence in the U.S. However, Trump Tweeted Thursday that Toyota won't be allowed to manufacturer
cars in Mexico for the U.S. market.
"Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build Corolla cars for U.S.," the Tweet read. "NO WAY! Build plant
in U.S. or pay big border tax."
According to a Bloomberg
report, Toyota's factory in Mexico is scheduled to produce its line of Corolla cars in 2019. Toyota President Ako Toyoda told
reporters in New York that the company's policy is to continuously find ways of boosting production in the U.S. regardless of the
political situation.
Bloomberg also noted that Toyoda will handle its Mexican operations after understanding it better.
Separately, the maker of Subaru vehicles confirmed it has no plans to build factories in Mexico.
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