South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. will start running a washing machine plant in South Carolina next week, the first time in nearly three decades for the consumer electronics giant to turn out home appliances directly in the United States after it pulled out TV plant in 1991.

The company pulled up the opening date amid ongoing safeguard probe on its washers that dominate the U.S. market.

The new facility in Newberry County will be capable of producing about 1 million washing machines annually, which accounts for about 60 percent of supply in North America.

Samsung Electronics’ U.S. subsidiary announced that it was holding an opening ceremony for the Newberry factory on Jan. 12 while making its appeal at a hearing of the U.S. Trade Representative in Washington D.C., on Wednesday, local time, on safeguard investigation on imports of large residential washers, mostly Samsung and LG brands.

Samsung Electronics decided to open a $380 million home appliance manufacturing facility in South Carolina to counter rising trade barriers under President Donald Trump.

Samsung Electronics had initially planned to begin operations of its Newberry factory in the first half of this year but moved up the date to this month. The move came as the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) recommended a tariff-rate quota of 40 to 50 percent on imported washers manufactured by Samsung and LG Electronics Inc. if imports exceed 1.2 million units over the next three years. The ITC’s ruling came after Michigan-based Whirlpool filed a complaint to contain its Korean rivals. The duties will become final upon stamping from Trump.

LG Electronics is also building a $250 million washing machine factory in Montgomery County in Tennessee with an aim to complete construction by the end of this year. Once Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics begin operations of their new facilities in North America, overall output from their plants in Vietnam that so far were responsible for much of global supply will drop significantly.

By Lee Jae-cheol and Lee Eun-joo

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