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South Korean conglomerate Hyundai on Monday announced a roughly $21 billion investment in U.S. onshoring that includes a $5.8 billion steel plant in Louisiana.
The plant is set to hire more than 1,400 employees and will produce next-generation steel that will be used by Hyundai’s two U.S. auto plants to manufacture electric vehicles. The investment was announced Monday at the White House by President Donald Trump, Hyundai Chairman Euisun Chung and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.
CNBC earlier reported the expected announcement and details of the investment.
Hyundai’s announcement comes as major international conglomerates are racing to dodge tariffs and avoid a trade war ahead of Trump’s April 2 tariff deadline. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Japan’s SoftBank are among the major foreign players that have visited the White House in the last two months to announce big U.S. onshoring plans.
Hyundai Motor CEO José Muñoz recently told Axios that the “the best way for [Hyundai] to navigate tariffs is to increase localization.”
The South Korean company is a top seller of electric vehicles in the U.S., competing directly with Tesla. It already has two major automotive plants in the U.S., one in Alabama and the other in Georgia. Hyundai on Monday also announced the opening of a third automotive plant, also in Georgia.
South Korea is also among the countries with which the U.S. carries a trade deficit. In early March, Trump singled out South Korea for applying high tariffs to U.S. exports, saying the Asian ally’s tariffs were four times higher than those of the United States.
Seoul has disputed that imbalance. As of 2024, South Korea’s effective tariff rate on U.S. imports stood at 0.79% as the two countries have a free trade pact, according to the South Korean government.
