South Korea’s Hyundai Motor company announced a $21 billion investment in the United States. The investment includes $5.8 billion to build a steel manufacturing plant in Louisiana, the automaker’s first steel plant in the U.S. The plant is predicted to create 1,400 jobs and produce around 2.7 million tons of steel a year. The plant will supply steel to auto plants in Alabama and Georgia. The announcement, which took place at the White House, included President Trump, Hyundai Chairman Euisun Chung, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, and House Speaker Mike Johnson. "Money is pouring in. We want to keep it that way," Trump remarked. 

 Hyundai signaled its plans to invest $9 billion to boost U.S. production capacity to 1.2 million vehicles in the U.S., currently the automaker produces around 700,000 units a year. Another $6 billion will be spent to expand its strategic partnerships with U.S. companies in autonomous driving, robotics, artificial intelligence, and advanced air mobility, by 2028. The automaker stated it is also committed to buying $3 billion of liquid natural gas produced in the United States.

 “More investments, more jobs, and more money in the pockets of hardworking Americans – all thanks to President Trump’s economic policies,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on social media.

Hyundai’s opening ceremony for its new $7.59 billion car and battery factory in Georgia takes place on March 27. The company has two other factories in the U.S. The car manufacturer’s Montgomery, Alabama (HMMA) plant, which produces the Elantra sedan, Santa Fe and Tucson SUVs, and Santa Cruz Sport Adventure Vehicle; and its Kia Motors factory in West Point, Georgia (KMMG), which began mass production in 2009. 

The announcement comes on the heels of reciprocal tariffs the Trump Administration is planning on imposing on numerous countries beginning April 2. South Korea which has a large trade surplus with the United States is in the crosshairs.