JCB has become the first major British manufacturer to say it will bolster its US operations in response to Donald Trump‘s tariffs.
Lord Bamford, chairman of the British company, said it would double the size of its new factory in Texas and ‘make even more products in the US’ after the President announced punitive global tariffs.
The announcement will worry Labour as it tries to keep the UK economy growing amid fears that there will be job losses as a result.
President Trump announced protectionist tariffs on all US imports as part of his plans to ‘Make America Wealthy Again’.
Tariffs are ultimately designed to protect domestic manufacturing, boost jobs and convince consumers to buy local products.
The President said the taxes would bring jobs ‘roaring back’ to the US and warned that other countries needed to start buying ‘tens of billions of dollars of American goods’.
JCB’s announcement that it will increase its 500,000-square-foot factory, currently under construction, to a million square feet and create jobs for 1,500 people will worry Labour.
Lord Bamford said: ‘JCB has been in business for 80 years this year and we are well accustomed to change.
Lord Bamford (pictured), chairman of the British company, said it would double the size of its new factory in Texas and ‘make even more products in the US’ after the President announced punitive global tariffs
Donald Trump pictured reading many of the tariffs off the chart during the press conference on April 2
A worker pictured attending to machinery inside the JCB factory in Rochester, Staffordshire
‘The United States is the largest market for construction equipment in the world and President Trump has galvanised 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.’
JCB began in 1945 as one man in a garage in Uttoxeter in Staffordshire building agricultural tipping trailers.
It has since expanded to become a great British success story and now has 22 plants on four continents, more than 750 dealers around the world and a workforce of more than 15,000.
The company is still based in Staffordshire, has 11 plants in the UK and employs 8,000 people.
Asked about JCB’s plans, a Downing Street spokesman said it was a commercial decision but he added: ‘Our approach to business is to engage, to listen and to act in a pragmatic way, and although we recognise that the UK is in a relatively more favourable position than other countries, the impact on the UK will be real, and our focus is working with businesses to analyse the impacts of this decision and to continue to work with the US to lower trade barriers.’
British manufacturers urged Sir Keir Starmer to strike an economic deal with the US to reduce the new tariffs, which are set at 10per cent.
UK car makers are also reviewing whether to cut production after the industry was hit with 25 per cent tariffs on exports to the US.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he will continue to engage with businesses and to seek an economic deal with the US to lessen the impact of the levies
Inside the JCB factory in Rocester, Staffordshire, where the British company produces its heavy machinery that is used across the globe
If they scale back output across Britain to cope with higher costs or reduce the number of models that are delivered to the US it could have an impact on workers.
About 17 per cent of all cars made for export in Britain are shipped to America.
Some brands in the luxury market, including Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin, will be more exposed than others.
Senior executives from several industries were invited to a meeting at Downing Street to be briefed on the Government’s next steps yesterday morning.
Sir Keir has said he will continue to engage with businesses and to seek an economic deal with the US to lessen the impact of the levies.
