Staffordshire manufacturer JCB set to build one million square foot factory in response to Trump tariffs
Staffordshire machinery giant JCB plans to double the size of a factory in North America after admitting new trade tariffs would have a 'significant' impact on the firm.
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This week, US president Donald Trump announced a base rate tariff of 10 per cent for all products imported into the United States from abroad. The move is designed to boost domestic US growth by making foreign imports more expensive.
JCB, which has its headquarters in Uttoxeter, is the world's third-largest construction equipment manufacturer by volume, operating 22 plants around the world in making over 300 different products.
However the firm says its UK business will be "significantly impacted" by the move to introduce trade tariffs - and plans to upscale its USA manufacturing operation as a result.
The Staffordshire firm, which employs over 19,000 people worldwide, says it plans to double the size of a new factory currently under construction in Texas from to a million square feet.
“In the short term, the imposition of tariffs will have a significant impact on our business," said JCB CEO Graeme Macdonald.
"However, in the medium term, our planned factory in San Antonio will help to mitigate the impact. We are thankful that the tariff is only 10% and we can only hope that the UK Government will conclude negotiations on a trade deal in the coming days and weeks.”
JCB operates an existing manufacturing plant in Savannah, Georgia, which employs around 1,000 people, and last year bought 400 acres of land in San Antonio, it says after recognising the need to produce even more machines in North America. The company broke ground on a project to build a new 500,000 square foot factory in June last year.
That project will now be doubled in size in an effort to mitigate the impact of imposed tariffs.
“JCB has been in business for 80 years this year and we are well accustomed to change," said JCB Chairman Anthony Bamford.
"The United States is the largest market for construction equipment in the world and President Trump has galvanised us into evaluating how we can make even more products in the USA, which has been an important market for JCB since we sold our first machine there in 1964.”
