Chung Eui-sun, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, said, "Since tariffs are a matter between nations, I do not believe that there will be significant changes in tariff policy just because of what one corporation does."
Chairman Chung said on the 26th (local time) at the completion ceremony of the "Hyundai Motor Group Meta Plant America" (HMGMA) in Georgia, USA, during a meeting with reporters, "As we are just a corporation, our announcement of the investment plan of $21 billion (approximately 31 trillion won) is unlikely to have a substantial impact on tariffs."
Chairman Chung noted, "I believe that the period after the tariff announcement on April 2 will be very important, and if there is any positive impact from the Hyundai Motor Group's investment plan, I will feel rewarded for our efforts, but we will have to continue negotiations even after the tariff announcement."
Earlier, Chairman Chung directly announced the investment plan in front of President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., on the 24th. During this occasion, he stated that Hyundai Motor Group plans to invest $21 billion (approximately 31 trillion won) over the next four years in local steel mill construction and automobile plant expansion.
Chairman Chung said, "I invited President Trump here to the plant (in Georgia), and after hearing that he should come to the White House to announce the construction of the electric arc furnace at Hyundai Steel in Louisiana, we were honored to have him here, and it was a great honor to have the governor of Louisiana and members of the state legislature join us."
He commented on the local investments in the U.S., saying, "Rather than building a factory here and making a steel mill against tariffs, the time will come when we need to manufacture and sell vehicles using green steel, which is low-carbon steel, that we will produce in the future, so we are preparing accordingly."
The HMGMA, where Hyundai Motor held its completion ceremony, is a project conducted alongside investments in the U.S. during the first term of the Trump administration. It is the third production base in the U.S., having started construction in October 2022 and began production of the Ioniq 5 from October last year. Starting this month, the mass production of the large electric sports utility vehicle (SUV) Ioniq 9 has also commenced.
Hyundai Motor Group plans to expand the HMGMA, which was built to produce 300,000 units annually, to increase production capacity to 500,000 units. Chairman Chung added, "Preparations for expansion are in place, and we will soon determine the specific timing of construction and vehicle types according to various market changes and customer conditions."
Through HMGMA, Hyundai Motor Group established a production system for 1 million vehicles in the U.S. It has been 20 years since the operation of the Hyundai plant in Alabama began in 2005, marking the start of local production. With the production capacity at HMGMA increasing to 500,000 units, combined with the Montgomery plant in Alabama (360,000 units annually) and the Kia plant in West Point, Georgia (340,000 units annually), the total production capacity is expected to reach 1.2 million vehicles.