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The world’s best-selling Japanese carmaker Toyota announced Thursday that it will invest $10 billion in the United States over the next five years, confirming earlier remarks made by President Donald Trump during his visit to Asia.
The company said the spending represents an additional commitment that will bring its total U.S. investment close to $60 billion since it began operating in the country nearly seven decades ago.
The announcement came alongside the opening of Toyota’s first U.S. facility dedicated to manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles. The plant, located in North Carolina, is Toyota’s eleventh manufacturing site in the country. According to the company, the facility represents nearly $14 billion in investment and could create up to 5,100 jobs once fully operational.
The investment plans come amid an easing of U.S. tariff pressures on Japanese automakers. Washington agreed to lower tariffs to 15% from a threatened 25%— and 27.5% for Japanese-made cars — after Tokyo committed to invest $550 billion in the U.S. economy. Japanese manufacturers have also been encouraged by U.S. officials to ship vehicles produced in their American plants back to Japan, which would require harmonizing the two countries’ automotive certification standards.
Trump had previously said that Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda informed him of the $10 billion plan during a meeting in Tokyo. At the time, Toyota’s finance chief said it was difficult to verify the figure, creating uncertainty over the scale of the company’s planned investments. The new statement resolves that ambiguity by formally confirming the five-year spending target.
Toyota imported roughly half of the vehicles it sold in the United States last year, largely from Canada and Mexico, but also about 281,000 units from Japan.
During the first half of 2025, the company retained its position as the world’s best-selling automaker for the sixth consecutive year, recording 5.5 million sales between January and June.
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