“The company will add 400 jobs at the plant in Princeton, investing $600 million to meet the strong and growing demand for the Highlander midsize SUV and modernize the entire plant,” the release stated. “This expansion project is part of Toyota’s localization strategy to build vehicles where they are sold.”
Toyota’s decision comes just weeks after US President Donald Trump said in a Twitter post that the automobile manufacturer will pay a substantial border tax unless it changed its plans to build a new plant in Mexico.
The project is set to begin in fall 2019, the release noted, and will add 40,000 Highlanders annually. The Princeton, Indiana plant created over 400,000 vehicles in 2016, the release added.
During his campaign, Trump frequently told supporters he would institute a 35 percent tax on US companies who made their products outside the United States and then tried to import them back into the country to sell.
