Trump's claim of a $10 billion investment was "slapped in the face" as Toyota executives clarified: there was never a clear commitment
Toyota Motor executive Hiroyuki Ueda clarified that the company has not committed to an additional $10 billion investment in the United States, responding to comments made by Trump. During his visit to Japan, Trump mentioned that Toyota was considering this scale of investment, but Ueda stated that no explicit commitment had been made by either party. Toyota will continue to invest and create jobs in the United States, but did not specify the amount of investment
According to the Zhitong Finance APP, a senior executive of Toyota Motor (TM.US) stated on Wednesday that the company has not made a clear commitment to invest an additional $10 billion in the United States. This follows a mention of this potential investment scale by U.S. President Trump the day before.
During his visit to Japan on Tuesday evening, Trump stated that the world's largest automaker is considering investing approximately $10 billion in the United States.
However, Toyota executive Hiroyuki Ueda indicated that during discussions with the Japanese government and the U.S. Embassy prior to Trump's visit, there was never a clear commitment regarding the aforementioned investment scale. He added that Toyota will continue to invest in the U.S. and create jobs.
"During Trump's first term, Toyota's investment in the U.S. was about $10 billion. Although we did not mention an investment of the same scale this time, it does indicate that we will continue to invest and create jobs as we have in the past. Therefore, the $10 billion investment amount mentioned by Trump is likely based on this context," Ueda stated during a break at the Tokyo Japan Mobility Show.
"So, we have never clearly stated that we will invest $10 billion in the coming years."
Ueda also pointed out that during an event at the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday evening, Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda and Trump had a brief conversation, but did not discuss investment-related topics
