On October 28, US President Trump announced a plan to invest US$10 billion in building factories in the United States. In addition, the U.S. government revealed that Toyota is advancing plans to "reverse import" U.S.-made cars to Japan. In a speech aboard the USS George Washington in Yokosuka, Trump said: "I heard from Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae that Toyota will invest more than $10 billion to build automobile factories in the United States" and called on military personnel to "buy Toyota."
However, Toyota's head of external affairs Hiroyuki Ueda denied the $10 billion investment at a press conference on the 29th, saying: "We have not specifically mentioned any plans to invest $10 billion in the United States in the next few years." He speculated that "the $10 billion figure may have appeared because the amount of investment during the first Trump administration was roughly the same."
Details about the reverse import program
The White House stated in a document released on the 28th that Toyota "has plans to export U.S.-made cars to Japan and open its sales network in Japan to U.S. automakers."
Toyota said it "will continue discussions internally" regarding reverse imports.
The plan is positioned as one of the measures to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with Japan and is part of the Japanese government's agreement to invest and lend $550 billion to the United States.