TOKYO (Reuters) – Honda is considering switching some car production from Mexico and Canada to the United States, aiming for 90% of cars sold in the country to be made locally in response to new U.S. auto tariffs, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Japan’s second-biggest automaker by sales plans to increase U.S. vehicle production by as much as 30% over two to three years in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to put a 25% levy on imported vehicles, Nikkei said.
Honda declined to comment, saying the information was not announced by the company.
In the weeks leading up to the new U.S. levy, Reuters had already reported that Honda plans to make its next-generation Civic hybrid in the U.S. state of Indiana, instead of Mexico, to avoid potential tariffs.
The U.S. was Honda’s biggest market last year, accounting for nearly 40% of global sales. The automaker sold 1.4 million vehicles in the U.S. last year.
(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya, Satoshi Sugiyama and Daniel Leussink; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)