Published by: Rachel McGuire<>
24 Mar 2025 @ 22:02 UTC

South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Group announced plans to invest $5.8 billion in a new steel manufacturing facility in Louisiana on Monday March 24, during a press conference with US President Donald Trump.

The new facility marks Hyundai’s inaugural North American steel facility, establishing a fully integrated, made-in-America supply chain to support its automotive manufacturing operations across the US, according to a press release issued by the state agency Louisiana Economic Development.
The facility will produce ultra-low carbon steel and is expected to create more than 1,300 direct new jobs.
The new mill will [supply] steel for its auto parts and auto plants in Alabama and Georgia, which will soon produce more than 1 million American-made cars each year, Trump said.
The mill will use electric arc furnaces and will produce 70% lower emissions than traditional blast furnaces.
Hyundai Steel Company, a member of the Hyundai Motor Group, will import roughly 3.6 million tonnes of iron ore annually to the Louisiana facility, according to the press release.
The mill is expected to produce 2.7 million tonnes of steel every year, with the largest portion of steel manufactured in Louisiana [being sent] to Hyundai Motor Company’s vehicle manufacturing plants throughout the U.S.
Hyundai also plans to supply other car manufacturers in the US with low-carbon steel.
There will be a major expansion after [the new steel manufacturing facility], Trump said during the press conference.
The company also announced an additional investment of $21 billion over the next four years in the US, executive chairman of Hyundai Chung Eui-sun said during the conference at the US White House. Our largest [investment in the US] ever.
A key part of this commitment is our $6-billion investment to strengthen the US supply chain from steel and parts to automobiles, Eui-sun stated.
The company will also be massively increasing its auto manufacturing in Georgia and investing billions of dollars in advanced American technology companies, Trump said.
During the press conference, Trump also announced additional tariff measures and potential exceptions to the sweeping reciprocal tariffs, set to begin on April 2.
We will be announcing some additional tariffs over the next few days having to do with automobiles, cars and having also to do with a little lumber down the road and chips, Trump said.
Trump also alluded to granting breaks on reciprocal tariffs. Well, I may give a lot of countries breaks, Trump said, discussing the April 2 25% tariffs. April 2 will be a big day. That’ll be reciprocal day.
It’s going to be everything, Trump responded to a reporter asking if the April 2 tariffs could include both sector and reciprocal tariffs. But not all tariffs are included that day. We are going to be doing automobiles… we will be announcing that fairly soon, over the next few days probably.
Ahead of the press conference, a White House official stated “We may have sectoral tariffs on April 2 and we may not. No final decisions have been made yet on sectoral tariffs being tacked onto reciprocal for the April 2 timeline.”
The president also discussed new tariffs on countries that import crude oil from Venezuela. If they buy their oil from Venezuela, they will have to pay a 25% tariff.
The tariff would be in addition to any tariff already in place.
Defending the tariffs, Trump said, [The Hyundai] investment is a clear demonstration that tariffs very strongly work.
Hyundai will be making its steel in America and making its cars in America. As a result, they’ll not have to pay any tariffs, Trump added.