President Donald Trump announced that Audi will build a multibillion-dollar factory in Georgia, framing the project as evidence that his tariff policies are delivering manufacturing jobs to the United States days before the November 3 midterm elections.

The German luxury automaker, the premium brand of the Volkswagen Group, said the plant near Macon will produce up to 200,000 SUVs annually, placing a significant part of its American operations on US soil for the first time. The announcement came during a GOP rally in Perry, Georgia, a state with highly competitive gubernatorial and US Senate races on this year's ballot.

Trump has spent months pressing automakers to build more vehicles in America, and the Audi announcement now gives him a concrete plant to point to on the campaign trail — even though the fuller story behind the investment is more complicated. For readers, it doubles as an early test of whether tariff policy can durably move foreign car production onto US soil, and at what cost to the car buyers and trading partners on the other side of those levies.

Trump casts Audi's Georgia investment as a win for tariffs

Audi values the Georgia project at roughly $4 billion and expects it to support about 4,500 jobs. Construction is due to begin in 2027, with the first vehicles expected in the early 2030s. A US official told Reuters that the factory is expected to build the Q7, Q8 and Q9 — three of Audi's larger SUVs.

Audi chief executive Gernot Doellner attended the rally as the company outlined its plans.

“We are planning to bring our biggest and most premium SUVs and produce them here in Macon, Georgia,” Doellner said. “This is a long-term investment because we believe in the American market.”

The move could help Audi avoid some of the import costs that have been eating into its business. The company currently imports every vehicle it sells in the United States from Europe or Mexico. Last year alone, Trump's tariffs cost the company €1.2 billion, or around $1.4 billion. Those levies extend beyond finished vehicles to cover steel, aluminum and car parts.

Supporters argue that the tariffs make domestic manufacturing more attractive. Critics counter that the same taxes raise vehicle costs and deter companies from investing amid shifting trade regulations.

Audi is also planning a smaller production setup in South Carolina that would allow 25,000 cars a year to be built locally, to be handled at Volkswagen's $2 billion Scout Motors plant in Blythewood, near Columbia. Cars produced in Europe can now also be shipped to other markets using the United States.

Ohio's Republican senator Bernie Moreno went further, claiming that Audi will eventually manufacture all of its SUVs in America. According to Moreno, the arrangement was contingent on tariffs, less stringent regulations, and an end to California's control over fuel-efficiency laws. Outside the rally, a high-end Audi decorated with its own license plates added some theatricality to the occasion.

Audi's struggles show why the factory is a bigger gamble

Beyond the campaign stage, there is a practical reason Audi wants more American production. The company's global sales have fallen for two straight years. Deliveries dropped another 7% in the first half of 2026, and its US sales are down 16% this year. It has been particularly difficult for Audi in China, while Volkswagen's losses to competitors in Europe such as BYD and Geely continue.

The German company is now contemplating either shutting down or selling four of its manufacturing facilities in Europe, including Audi's Neckarsulm facility in southwest Germany.

The United States looks attractive in part because of the lack of competition from China, as tariffs above 100% keep Chinese-built cars out of the American market. But a new manufacturing facility is no guarantee of profits, and several facilities in operation already run at less than full capacity. That gap between announced capacity and actual output is the measure that will show whether projects like Audi's translate into lasting production.

Other automakers are likewise trying to balance manufacturing costs against the risk of fluctuating trade policies. In July, Toyota announced that it will invest $3.6 billion in a 2.5-million-square-foot truck assembly line at its San Antonio campus, moving some production from Mexico and hiring 2,000 employees by 2030. Honda is considering another US plant but wants the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement extended first, and Hyundai has said clearer rules could release more than $20 billion in American investment. The pattern shows trade policy, as much as consumer demand, now steering where vehicles get built — which is why the durability of those policies is the condition every one of these commitments hangs on.

Meanwhile, Trump's cuts to electric vehicle incentives have slowed US EV and battery production. Employment in American vehicle and parts manufacturing has also fallen since he took office last year, even as he promotes projects like Audi's as victories for his tariff strategy.