GE Appliances moves washing machine production from China to Kentucky with $490 million investment

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — GE Appliances announced a nearly half-billion-dollar project Thursday that it says will create 800 new jobs and shift production of clothes washers from China to its massive manufacturing complex in Kentucky.

The $490 million investment positions the Kentucky home appliances company to rank as the biggest U.S. manufacturer of washing machines, it said.

''We are bringing laundry production to our global headquarters in Louisville because manufacturing in the U.S. is fundamental to our ‘zero-distance' business strategy to make appliances as close as possible to our customers and consumers,'' CEO Kevin Nolan said. ''This decision is our most recent product reshoring and aligns with the current economic and policy environment.''

The announcement comes as President Donald Trump attempts to lure factories back to the United States by imposing import taxes — tariffs — on foreign goods. He has slapped 10% tariffs on imports from most countries and put 30% levies on Chinese goods. GE Appliances says nearly all the steel used in its U.S. manufacturing for its appliances comes from American steelmakers.

GE Appliances said the project will move production of a combo washer/dryer and a lineup of front load washers from China to the Bluegrass State. In all, production of more than 15 models of front load washers will shift to the company's sprawling Louisville production complex — known as Appliance Park, it said. Once the added production is in place, the total area devoted to clothes care production at the Louisville complex will equal 33 football fields, it said.

Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who has criticized Trump's tariffs, hailed the company's deepening commitment to the state.

''Today's announcement brings more appliance manufacturing back to the United States and solidifies Kentucky and Louisville as the global headquarters of GE Appliances,'' the governor said.

The redesigned factory will become its most advanced manufacturing plant for clothes washing production, the company said, featuring the latest in automation, robotics and material-handling technologies including automated guided vehicles and autonomous mobile robots.

The new manufacturing lines will open in 2027, the company said.

Next door at the complex's Building 1, the company produces top load washers and front load dryers.

GE Appliances handles product design and engineering work at its Louisville headquarters but lacks overall production capacity to make all of its products at its U.S. plants. So it contracts with other manufacturers, including in China, for some of its production. The company said its core business strategy is to base production in the United States, and the investment announced Thursday is another step toward achieving that goal.

''Manufacturing in Louisville puts production closer to our designers, engineers and consumers so that together we can create our most innovative laundry platforms,'' said Lee Lagomarcino, vice president of clothes care at GE Appliances.

The $490 million infusion into Appliance Park is the latest round of investments in recent years as part of the company's growth strategy. It builds on the company's previous investments of $3.5 billion in U.S. manufacturing in the past decade, with more than one-third of the amount going to Appliance Park.

Appliance Park in Louisville employs about 8,000 workers and is home to five plants that produce washers, dryers, dishwashers and refrigerators as well as parts and components. GE Appliances also has manufacturing plants in South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Connecticut.

GE Appliances is a subsidiary of the China-based Haier company.

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Associated Press Writer Paul Wiseman in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.