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So far, the U.S. President – elect, Donald Trump, is catching his fun with his bully, raking and rantings on how he would deal with ‘recalcitrant’ auto makers, who, according to him, are taking American investments and jobs to Mexico.
Poor Mexico! And the automakers are making a u-turn on their earlier plans for new investments in the country by the day.
American auto giant, Ford, was the first to make a u-turn by backing out of initial plans to splash a whopping $1.6bn on a new plant in Mexico. Instead, Ford said it will now spend $700 million on its Michigan facility and create more jobs for Americans. That exactly is what Trump wants. And now, Japanese carmaker, Toyota, appears ready to toe the Trump line.
Trump, who is due to be sworn-in as the American president on Jan.20, Thursday sent a strong warning to Japanese largest carmaker, Toyota , in a tweet.
“Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build Corolla cars for U.S. NO WAY! Build plant in U.S. or pay big border tax,” Trump had said in the tweet.
But Reuters quoted Toyota President, Akio Toyoda, as saying, “We will consider our option as we see what policies the incoming president adopts,” at an industry gathering in Tokyo on Thursday just before Trump’s tweet, when asked whether Toyota would change its plans for the new Mexico plant .
Nonetheless, “If Ford could make a u-turn, who is Toyota?” somebody in Toyota City, Japan, may be asking asking rhetorically, thinking that the best time to move with caution on the new Mexico plant may just be now.
According to Bloomberg , Toyota President, Akio Toyoda, told journalists at a New Year gathering that that he’ll handle the situation after understanding it better. Toyoda said he was interested in boosting U.S. production, regardless of the political situation in the country, according to Bloomberg, adding, Toyota wants to be a good company for U.S. citizens and that’s in the same direction as Trump, who’s said he wants to make America stronger.
Last November, Toyota performed the groundbreaking ceremony of its $1 billion plant in Guanajuato, in central Mexico, where it plans to assemble some 200,000 units of Corolla, starting from 2019.
But as the situation unfolds, Toyota has to apply some caution even as General Motors appears to be made the proverbial ‘scape-goat’ by Trump , who has already called for retaliatory taxes against General Motors for making some of its Chevrolet Cruze compact cars in Mexico.
