Trump hits Toyota in latest broadside against carmakers and Mexico

US President-elect Donald Trump targeted Toyota Motor Corp on Thursday, threatening to impose a hefty fee on the world's largest automaker if it builds its Corolla cars for the US market at a plant in Mexico.

"Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build Corolla cars for U.S. NO WAY! Build plant in US or pay big border tax," Trump said in a post on Twitter.

American car companies have faced harsh criticism from Trump for building cars more cheaply outside the US. During the campaign, Trump criticised barriers to US auto exports to Japan and said the US government did not do enough to open the market to more American-made vehicles.

Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build Corolla cars for U.S. NO WAY! Build plant in U.S. or pay big border tax.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2017

"Until you open your markets, you’re not selling any more cars over here,” Trump said of Japan in an August 2015 interview with the Detroit News. "That’s going to force people to build in the United States."

Toyota has extensive US investments, operates 10 US plants in eight states and builds more than 1.3 million vehicles in the United States annually.

The Guardian newspaper reported that Trump’s tweet was followed by Toyota shares dropping more than 3% in morning trade in Tokyo on Friday. Shares in Nissan and Honda also fell as unease in Japan grows over the effects Trump’s “America first” economic policy could have on cross-Pacific trade.

Toyota's President Akio Toyoda said the company had no immediate plans to curb production in Mexico.

"We will consider our option as we see what policies the incoming president adopts," Toyoda said, speaking in Japan on Thursday.

The company's US arm issued a statement saying production and employment levels at Toyota in the US would not decrease as a result of the new plant in Mexico. The company has 10 manufacturing plants in the US.

"Toyota looks forward to collaborating with the Trump Administration to serve in the best interests of consumers and the automotive industry," the statement said.

Japan's trade minister Hiroshige Seko, speaking at a regular news conference on Friday, said the new US administration needed to understand that his country's auto industry "has greatly contributed to the US economy".

Trump has already targeted American carmakers General Motors and Ford for manufacturing south of the border.

Ford later cancelled its plans for a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico and said it would expand operations in the US instead, but said this was due to market considerations.

The Nafta free trade area, and the lower cost of labour, makes it attractive for firms to build cars in Mexico for sale in the US.

But Trump has said he would end this practice, as it was costing American jobs.

Between 1994 and 2013, US auto factory jobs dropped by a third while jobs in Mexico rose almost five-fold over the same period as lower-wage production boomed. Mexico now accounts for 20% of all vehicle production in North America and has attracted more than $24 billion in auto investment since 2010, according to the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based, Centre for Automotive Research.