Monday, 05 May 2025 12:55

JCB expands new Texas factory plans in response to April tariff hike

Written by  Mark Daniel
JCB says it will increase the size of its new factory currently being built in Texas. JCB says it will increase the size of its new factory currently being built in Texas.

Since Donald Trump’s import tariff announcement, the world has been on a wild economic ride.

Indeed, by April 8, US companies alone had reportedly lost around US$2.5 trillion in value, only ever seen before in the Great Depression, the Global Financial Crisis and the Covid Crisis – none of which were intentionally manufactured.

Of course, farm machinery manufacturers will be affected, particularly those with production sites in Europe who ship to the United States.

In response to the increased tariffs announced on April 2, JCB says it will increase the size of its new factory that is currently being built in Texas.

“In the short term, the imposition of tariffs will have a significant impact on our business,” said JCB CEO, Graeme Macdonald, for the UK-based construction and agricultural equipment manufacturer.

“In the medium term, our planned factory in San Antonio will help to mitigate the impact, but we are thankful that the tariff is only 10%, but we hope that the UK government will conclude negotiations on a trade deal in the coming days and weeks.”

Trump used “emergency powers” to issue a 10% baseline tariff across the board on all imports to the US, that took effect on April 5th. Higher tariffs are set for countries with larger trade surpluses with the US, like China at 54% higher and the European Union at 20% higher. Interestingly, the UK left the European Union in 2020.

JCB’s has announced that its “original plan” to build a 46,500-squaremetre plant in San Antonio has now been doubled to 93,000 square metres or 22 acres, easily making it the company’s second-largest factory.

The $500 million plant is set to begin production in 2026 and employ 1500 people, complementing the company’s North America headquarters in Savannah, Georgia, where it has been for 25 years and employs about 1000 people. That 46,500-square-metre facility manufactures skid steer loaders, compact track loaders and Teleskids. It also produces the High Mobility Engineer Excavator and Light Capability Rough Terrain Forklift for the US military and other NATO-aligned forces.

“JCB has been in business for 80 years this year, so we are well accustomed to change,” said JCB chairman, Sir Anthony Bamford. “The United States is the largest market for construction equipment in the world, and President Trump has galvanized us into evaluating how we can make even more products in the USA, which has been an important market for JCB since we sold our first machine there in 1964.”

Elsewhere, global ag equipment company CNH Industrial says it has temporarily paused shipments due to uncertainty stemming from the ongoing tariff situation. In a statement, the company is stopping shipments from North America plants and European imports effective immediately. Officials say the move is temporary until they assess the full impact of tariffs on pricing. The company stated there are no impacts to production and shipment of parts will continue as planned.

More like this

NZ seeks certainty on US tariff, says McClay

Trade Minister Todd McClay says his officials plan to meet their US counterparts every month from now on to better understand how the 15% tariff issue there will play out, and try and get some certainty there for our exporters about the future.

US tariffs threaten NZ horticulture exports

"Unwelcome" is how the chief executive of the Horticulture Export Authority (HEA), Simon Hegarty, describes the 15% tariff that the US has imposed on primary exports to that country.

Editorial: Hope for the best

New Zealand's dairy industry is right to call out Donald Trump over the damage the additional 15% tariff the US is imposing on our exports but also imposition on lower tariffs on our competitors.

Editorial: We are Trumped

OPINION: Nothing it seems can be done in the short term to get Donald Trump to change his mind about removing the unfair 15% tariffs that he’s imposed on New Zealand exports to the US.

Featured

Fencing excellence celebrated

The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards, providing the opportunity to honour both rising talent and industry stalwarts.

B+LNZ launches AI assistant for farmers

Beef + Lamb New Zealand has launched an AI-powered digital assistant to help farmers using the B+LNZ Knowledge Hub to create tailored answers and resources for their farming businesses.

National

Machinery & Products

JDLink Boost for NZ farms

Connectivity is widely recognised as one of the biggest challenges facing farmers, but it is now being overcome through the…

New generation Defender HD11

The all-new 2026 Can-Am Defender HD11 looks likely to raise the bar in the highly competitive side-by-side category.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Buttery prize

OPINION: Westland Milk may have won the contract to supply butter to Costco NZ but Open Country Dairy is having…

Gene Bill rumours

OPINION: The Gene Technology Bill has divided the farming community with strong arguments on both the pros and cons of…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter