President Trump has claimed that automobile plants are being built one after another in the US as a result of his tariff policy, but an Associated Press fact-check found that the figures cited as evidence are exaggerated or inconsistent. In reality, multiple plants have been newly built, renovated or repurposed over the past 40 years, and 51 are currently operating.
Trump said that the number of automobile plants in the US was increasing thanks to tariffs. However, an Associated Press fact-check found that the claim that there had been no plants for 44 years was inaccurate, citing the fact that more than 24 major automobile assembly plants had been newly built over the past 40 years.
Meanwhile, Hyundai's Georgia plant began construction in 2022, started production in 2024 and officially opened in 2025. There are also major investment plans under the administration, including a joint venture planned by Toyota and Mazda and Volvo's plans to open a US plant, but these do not represent all new plant construction, according to the report.
According to data from Autos Drive America, there were 51 passenger-car and light-commercial-vehicle assembly plants in the US as of 2026, slightly down from 52 five years earlier. The long history of local production in the US by Japanese automakers was also highlighted, and the report indicated that tariffs alone cannot be considered the determining factor for investment.
Investment totals are often cited as an achievement of the administration, but tariffs can both encourage the relocation of automobile production sites and increase costs. The report introduced experts' view that decisions therefore need to take a long-term perspective and account for international competitiveness.