Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sought to highlight his country’s investments in the U.S. with a visit to a Toyota plant in North Carolina, a crucial battleground state in the 2024 contest between U.S. President Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Kishida on Friday visited the Greensboro plant campus where Toyota last year injected an additional $8 billion to make batteries for electric vehicles — a move bringing the carmaker’s total investment in North Carolina to about $14 billion. He also dropped by a Honda Aircraft factory in the state. The stops follow a summit in Washington with Biden, where strengthening economic and defense ties topped the agenda.
"I was able to agree with President Biden that the promotion of bilateral investment is very important for the U.S.-Japan relationship to drive the global economy,” Kishida told reporters late Thursday, saying the visit would showcase Japan’s investments to the American public.