Hyundai Motor Group will invest $20 billion in U.S. manufacturing, including a $5 billion steel plant in Louisiana, marking one of the largest single commitments by a foreign automaker to American industrial development.
The announcement was made March 24 at the White House by President Donald Trump, Hyundai Chairman Euisun Chung and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.
The Louisiana plant will be Hyundai’s first steel manufacturing facility in the U.S., expected to produce more than 2.7 million metric tons of steel a year for assembly plants in Alabama and Georgia. It is also projected to create more than 1,400 jobs.
The move comes as the Trump administration prepares to escalate tariffs on imported goods. Existing policies include a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports, with additional levies on imported cars from Asia and Europe set to take effect next month.
Hyundai’s expansion is part of a push to encourage reshoring in key industrial sectors, with companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Apple and SoftBank also announcing large-scale U.S. investments in recent months.
The investment appears to be strategically timed ahead of an April 2 deadline, when the administration is expected to introduce broader tariffs aimed at countries with large trade surpluses, including South Korea.
While the administration touts these policies as critical to revitalizing American manufacturing, some analysts caution the path is not straightforward. Despite new commitments from companies like Stellantis to reopen U.S. plants, execution timelines remain years away. For instance, a shuttered Stellantis plant in Illinois isn’t expected to resume operations until 2027.
Still, data from S&P Global Mobility indicates U.S. factories already produce the majority of North American vehicles -- 10.2 million cars in 2024 compared to 4 million in Mexico and 1.3 million in Canada. Roughly 1 million workers are employed across U.S. auto manufacturing facilities.
