That year, the company moved Tacoma production out of San Antonio and shifted operations to plants in Baja California and Guanajuato, Mexico. At the time, the move was viewed as another example of major manufacturers looking south of the border for lower production costs.
Now, however, Toyota is bringing a substantial portion of that production back to the United States.
Once the new assembly line is completed, the San Antonio facility will nearly double in size by the end of the decade. Toyota’s total investment in the Texas plant will climb to roughly $8.3 billion since operations first began there in 2003.
The expansion also means that every major Toyota body-on-frame SUV and pickup built for the American market—the Tundra, Sequoia, and Tacoma—will be manufactured at the same Texas campus.
President Donald Trump wasted little time highlighting the announcement.
Posting on Truth Social, Trump celebrated Toyota’s decision as evidence that his economic policies are working, declaring that the automaker was moving production from Mexico back to the United States because of tariffs. He later repeated that argument while appearing alongside Turkey’s president during an event in Ankara, pointing to the investment as another example of companies choosing American manufacturing.
Toyota, however, carefully avoided making any direct connection between its investment and federal trade policy.
Instead, company executives attributed the decision to “confidence in the region’s workforce, innovation and long-term growth potential.”
The statement notably made no mention of tariffs or the Trump administration.
That omission has fueled speculation among political observers and industry analysts who argue that companies often avoid publicly tying major investment decisions to political figures or specific government policies.
Still, the scale of Toyota’s investment has prompted questions about what changed since the company decided to relocate Tacoma production to Mexico just five years ago.
The timing has certainly attracted attention.
Only days before Toyota unveiled its expansion plans, the Trump administration announced that it would not renew the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in its existing form. Instead of extending the trade pact without changes, the administration opted for annual reviews, creating new uncertainty for manufacturers that rely heavily on Mexican production.
For automakers with major investments south of the border, that decision represented a significant policy shift.
Supporters of the administration argue that the annual review process places additional pressure on companies to increase domestic manufacturing rather than depend on facilities outside the United States.
Tariffs remain another major factor in the broader conversation.
Trump’s automotive tariffs, implemented under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, have remained largely intact despite legal challenges. Although the Supreme Court narrowed portions of the president’s broader tariff authority earlier this year, Section 232 survived, leaving tariffs on imported vehicles and automotive products in place.
Because those tariffs continue to apply, manufacturers weighing long-term production strategies must account for the possibility of higher costs associated with importing vehicles assembled outside the United States.
Several automakers have already announced plans to expand North American production or shift portions of truck and SUV manufacturing closer to the U.S. market. Toyota’s latest announcement represents one of the largest and most significant investments yet.
For workers in Texas, the impact is immediate.
The expansion promises roughly 2,000 new jobs while strengthening San Antonio’s position as one of Toyota’s most important manufacturing hubs anywhere in the world.
For the broader auto industry, the move signals that production decisions are increasingly being influenced by changing trade policies, supply chain security, and long-term manufacturing costs—not simply by lower labor expenses abroad.
Construction of the new assembly line will take several years, meaning Tacoma production will continue in Tijuana while the Texas expansion moves forward.
But Toyota has already made its long-term commitment clear.
When the project is complete, San Antonio will stand as the only American facility producing the Toyota Tundra, Sequoia, and Tacoma under one roof—a milestone backed by a $3.6 billion investment that underscores the company’s growing commitment to manufacturing in the United States.
