Tokyo: Toyota said on Wednesday it is cutting investment and production at a planned Mexican factory targeted by Donald Trump, but denied politics played any role in the decision, which came days before the US president visits Japan.

The auto giant is reducing planned investment at the Guanajuato plant to $700 million from $1.0 billion forecast earlier and halving capacity to 100,000 units a year.

The proposed new plant sparked an angry reaction in January from president-elect Trump, who has urged foreign firms to keep more manufacturing jobs in the US.

He threatened Toyota with painful tariffs if the factory went ahead.

Toyota said the scaling-back was linked to a product change at the factory in central Mexico — scheduled to start production in 2019.

“Our commitment to Mexico is still there,” Toyota spokesman Jean-Yves Jault said.

“We also want to make the US [operations] grow and succeed.

“This was not a direct response to comments from Trump. It goes beyond just one factory,” he added.

Toyota initially planned to build 200,000 of its Corolla sedans at the Mexican plant.

But due to strong demand for its Tacoma pickup trucks — manufactured in two plants in North America — the firm decided to scrap Corolla production in Mexico and build Tacomas instead.

This reduced the amount of investment required in the Mexican plant and the firm has decided to manufacture the Corollas in the US, stressed Jault.

Factbox: Toyota says Brexit ‘fog’ must clear to safeguard UK plant

Toyota Motor Corp needs clarity on the terms of Britain’s access to European Union markets after Brexit to secure production at its Burnaston plant in central England, it said on Wednesday.

The Japanese carmaker’s comments echo calls from businesses in both Britain and abroad for the UK government to make progress in talks on future relations with the EU following the country’s planned departure from the bloc in March 2019.

“We cannot stay in this kind of fog when we don’t know what will be the output of the negotiations,” Toyota Executive Vice President Didier Leroy said at the Tokyo Motor Show.

“The quicker we can get clarity about that, the better it will be (for) the way we can prepare for the future.” Toyota, which employs more than 3,000 people in Britain, builds the Auris hatchback and the family Avensis car at Burnaston.

Britain said on Wednesday it wanted an outline agreement on a transitional deal by the first quarter of 2018.

It is seeking a two-year implementation period after March 2019, during which its access to the EU single market would stay largely unchanged while new arrangements are put in place.

— Reuters