Volvo slows American plant hiring after tariffs

LOS ANGELES – Volvo has reduced its hiring plans at its new assembly plant in Charleston, South Carolina, due to increased tariffs from President Donald Trump’s trade dispute with China.

Volvo global CEO Håkan Samuelsson told USA TODAY in an interview Wednesday at the Los Angeles Auto Show that the company had throttled its South Carolina expansion plans.

Originally, Volvo planned to hire

1,500 workers at the plant by the end of

2018 and 4,000 within a few years. Samuelsson didn’t specify precisely how those figures would change.

The Chinese-owned Swedish brand opened the $1.1 billion plant earlier this year – its first U.S. factory – with plans to make vehicles there for the U.S., Europe and China. But after China hiked U.S. vehicle import tariffs from

25 to 40 percent in a dispute with Trump, those plans went awry.

Volvo’s new South Carolina plant, which opened in June, is gradually ramping up to produce the S60 sedan. In 2021, the plant will begin assembling the Volvo XC90 SUV. Once it’s making both models, the plant will ship about half of its vehicles to foreign markets, according to Volvo’s plan.

But if the U.S. dispute with China isn’t resolved soon, those plans could be changed, too.

“We ... thought Charleston could build cars for China,” Samuelsson said. “That will not work.”

Instead, he said, the company is making plans to build the S60 in China for sale to customers there. Volvo is owned by Chinese automaker Geely.

Trump is showing no signs of backing down on auto tariffs. He said Wednesday on Twitter that U.S. tariffs on foreign imports have helped build the American auto industry’s surging truck industry.

Samuelsson said Volvo is continuing to expand its American technology presence with workers in Mountain View, California. The company is investing in its plan to end its use of pure-gasoline engines and switch to all hybrids or electric vehicles.