An Awkward Moment in the Trump-Toyota Bromance
By Adam Zuckerman
Last week, as part of his Asia tour, President Trump told U.S. troops stationed in Japan to “go out and buy a Toyota,” claiming that the automaker was planning to invest $10 billion in the U.S. He then repeated the claim, saying “Yesterday I was with [Toyota Board Chair] Toyota [sic] in Japan, and he’s just announced he’s gonna spend, uh, they’re gonna spend $10 billion, and they’re gonna build new car plants. And they’re gonna build ’em in numerous states, about six or seven different states.”
The only problem? It wasn’t true. Toyota executive Hiroyuki Ueda quickly went on record to debunk the claim, saying that the U.S. President must have been confused.
It was an awkward moment in what has largely been a lovefest between a climate-denying president and the anti-climate automaker.
Why would an “America First” president known for taking out newspaper ads bashing Japan tell U.S. troops to support a Japanese car company? It may have less to do with the seemingly made-up investment and more to do with how Toyota has carried water for Trump, his climate-denying allies, and his anti-climate agenda.
As I wrote in Driving Denial: How Toyota’s Unholy Alliance with Climate Deniers Threatens Climate Progress, Toyota has become the most aggressive anti-climate lobbyist and largest funder of climate deniers in the automotive industry. It has sided repeatedly with Trump and his allies, even cajoling its employees into lobbying for the Trump administration’s anti-climate policies.
In February, Toyota endorsed a bill from Senator Bernie Moreno to overturn the California waiver and to repeal the CAFE standards rules, along with virtually every other auto climate protection. Moreno is a MAGA Republican and former auto dealer who wants to become the Senate’s “car czar.” After his victory in one of the most high-profile senate races in the nation, The Detroit Free Press wrote that Moreno’s “closest relationships now are with leaders at Toyota Motor North America, which he said helped organize the coalition of car dealers that supported his Senate run.”
After Toyota became one of the largest funders of Trump’s inauguration, his Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reversed a $60 million settlement that the agency had reached with Toyota’s financing arm for illegal lending practices. Shortly after, Trump’s DOJ shuttered an investigation into Toyota Motors Thailand, even though it had admitted to paying $18 million to bribe a Thai supreme court judge in an attempt to reverse a $320 million penalty for avoiding import taxes on Prius parts.
It’s also notable that Trump reportedly met with Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s Board Chair on his trip to Japan last week. Like Trump, Toyoda inherited his father’s business empire and is famous for his opposition to EVs. In 2022, in large part due to his dogged opposition to electric vehicles, then-CEO Toyoda was forced to step down in favor of a younger and more forward-looking chief executive, Koji Sato. However, many both inside and outside the company are concerned that Toyoda is still holding on to the reins of power, essentially operating as a shadow CEO. It is notable that Toyoda—and presumably not Toyota’s actual CEO—reportedly met with Trump during his visit. Regardless of who met with the president, it’s clear that Trump appreciated Toyota’s wholehearted embrace.