GE Appliances plans to reshore some of its production of clothes washers from China to the US, as home appliances have become ensnared in the White House's lofty steel tariff import scheme.
The company, a subsidiary of Chinese-based home appliance manufacturer Haier, said it will invest $490mn to build a new clothes washer manufacturing plant at its headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky.
The investment will allow the company to move the production of more than 15 models of its front loading washers from China to its Louisville-based Appliance Park manufacturing hub.
The plant will include in-house manufacturing of critical parts such as stainless-steel baskets and cabinets, high-precision metal stamping and forming, and injection-molding and production equipment.
GE Appliances said it expects the new manufacturing lines to be open in 2027 and estimated that the investment will create 800 jobs.
The "current economic and policy environment" in the US drove the decision to reshore production, as well as its strategy to make its products as close as possible to is customers, the company said.
Home appliances came under increased government scrutiny this month, after the US Commerce Department broadened its 50pc steel import tariffs on 23 June to include most common home appliances. The tariffs are based on the portion of steel in each appliance.
The US imported 3.1mn laundry machines so far this year through April, up by 10pc from the prior year, according to customs data. Mexico was the largest single source of these appliances during this period, at 39pc of all imports, while China was the second largest source at 19pc.
