JCB plans San Antonio factory expansion to dodge Trump’s tariffs

Dive Brief

The U.K.-based heavy machinery manufacturer said the levies will impact its business in the short term.

Published April 18, 2025

First published on

Dive Brief:

• Heavy machinery maker JCB announced earlier this month that it’s doubling the size of its upcoming San Antonio factory in an effort to evade President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
• The revised Texas site plan, which is still under construction, will increase the facility’s size to 1 million square feet, the U.K.-based company said in the release.
• The $500 million plant, initially announced in 2023, will create 1,580 jobs with an average wage of $54,889, according to a 2024 presentation for city officials. Production is set to begin next year.

Dive Insight:

JCB manufactures more than 300 products for customers in 150 countries and has an estimated 15,000 employees across 21 other manufacturing facilities worldwide, including in the U.K. and China.

CEO Graeme Macdonald said in a statement that the president’s recent tariffs would have a “significant impact” on the company in the short-term, but that the San Antonio factory would help mitigate those effects in the medium term. The machinery maker said in an email that it had no more information to share on what the short-term impacts may entail. 

The company has one facility in the Shanghai area that employs more than 150 workers, according to its international career website. JCB currently has one U.S. facility, located at its North America headquarters in Savannah, Georgia, which produces JCB’s tracked and wheeled excavators, skid steer and teleskid steer as well as military products, according to the international career website. Its largest factory is located at its headquarters site in Staffordshire, U.K.

Until the San Antonio factory begins production, however, the U.K. and India facilities will manufacture the telescopic handlers and two variants of aerial work platforms, the presentation stated. When the San Antonio factory comes online, it will initially manufacture its loadall telescopic handlers and aerial access equipment, according to a June 2024 press release.

JCB broke ground on the San Antonio facility last summer and will be the machinery manufacturer’s second largest, the company said. The facility lays on over 400 acres, which JCB acquired last year for potential expansions and to build other products, according to a June 2024 release. 

“JCB has been in business for 80 years this year and we are well accustomed to change,” Chairman Anthony Bamford said in a statement. “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.”