Trump defends tariffs at rally as he says Audi to build U.S. plant

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at a midterm elections campaign rally in Perry, Georgia, on Saturday. | Haiyun Jiang / The New York Times

Bloomberg

Oct 25, 2026

U.S. President Donald Trump defended his decision to wield tariffs during a campaign rally in Georgia, saying they’ve made the U.S. richer as he announced that Volkswagen agreed to build a new $4.2 billion Audi plant in the state.

“Think of that, 200,000 cars a year. That’s incredible,” Trump told a crowd in the city of Perry. “This will be the single largest investment in U.S. auto industry history, modern history.”

Later, he added, “Without tariffs, they wouldn’t be coming in.”

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