President Donald Trump announced Saturday that German automaker Audi will build its first American factory in Georgia, a move that is expected to create 4,500 new jobs.
“I’m thrilled to announce a massive auto manufacturing investment in the great state of Georgia by a fantastic company,” Trump said at a midterm campaign rally in Perry, Georgia.
The president told the crowd that Audi is making the $4 billion investment to avoid the tariffs he rolled out last year on the country’s trading partners.
“If you want your tariff rate to be zero, then you build your product right here in America,” Trump said at the time.
Trump called Audi’s plant the largest single investment in the modern U.S. auto industry. He said it will build 200,000 vehicles a year, with construction starting in 2027. Audi expects production to begin by early 2030s.
Audi is the last major German car brand without a U.S. factory. The company has instead shipped the cars it sells in America from factories in Germany, Mexico, and Central and Eastern Europe. Its main rivals, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, have long-term plants across the South.
The company raised prices on several models last year to cover tariff costs, which it says cut its 2025 profits by roughly $1.4 billion. Audi said it expects a similar hit this year.
The Georgia factory is the latest in a string of investments Trump has unveiled on the campaign trail ahead of the midterms in an effort to get out the vote for Republicans. At a rally in Kentucky last week, he touted a $100 million federal investment in a drug manufacturing plant in Winchester.
The news gives Republicans a boost in Georgia, which has become a swing state in recent years. Republican billionaire Rick Jackson is running for governor against Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor and Biden White House official, while Republican Rep. Mike Collins is trying to unseat Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff.
Beyond the campaign trail, the Audi announcement adds to a series of corporate investments in U.S. production. Earlier this month, defense company Anduril committed $3.7 billion to a new Maryland shipyard, which is expected to bring over 13,000 jobs to the region. Japanese brewer Sapporo announced last month it will shift production of nonalcoholic beer for American customers from Canada to the United States, after Trump’s 50% tariffs on certain Canadian goods took effect.
The White House has pointed to rising factory employment as evidence that Trump’s economic agenda is delivering results.
“After years of decline, manufacturing employment is rising once again with 72,000 new manufacturing jobs added in 2026 so far,” the White House said in a statement earlier this month.
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