Tariffs pull, USMCA pushes: Toyota to Texas
Ny Peter Navarro | The Hill | July 14, 2026
President Trump summed up Toyota’s stunning Tacoma pickup truck announcement in three words: “Tariffs at work!” He is absolutely right. And the shortfalls of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade are part of the story, too.
Toyota is putting $3.6 billion into its San Antonio manufacturing campus, adding 2,000 jobs and expanding by 2.5 million square feet. This expanded Texas plant will add major new Tacoma capacity and shift a major share of U.S.-bound Tacoma production onto American soil, right where it should be.
Strategically, this is very good for America. A robust domestic auto industry with resilient supply chains enhances both national security and economic prosperity.
Cars and trucks are rolling platforms of steel, aluminum, semiconductors, sensors, batteries, magnets, software, and advanced electronics. Whoever controls that supply chain controls jobs, wages, innovation — and, in a crisis, production capacity for America’s arsenal of democracy.
The best situation for America is clear: a U.S.-owned factory, employing American workers, on U.S. soil, drawing from American suppliers. That keeps wages, profits, engineering, tax revenues and strategic decision-making here at home. That is the gold standard.