Abbott Laboratories plans to hire as many as 200 more people over the next few years to expand production in the northern suburbs of Chicago — news that comes as the company prepares to deal with the impact of tariffs.
The company is adding jobs and expanding production at a facility at its Abbott Park campus, said spokesperson Kate Dyer in an email.
The company said in an earnings release Wednesday that it plans to spend $500 million on new manufacturing and research and development investments in Illinois and in Dallas, Texas. It expects those investments to “go live” by the end of this year, according to the release.
“This furthers Abbott’s long history of investing in American innovation – in the past five years alone, the company has invested nearly $5 billion in manufacturing and equipment and $10.7 billion in R&D in the country,” Dyer said.
The news comes as President Donald Trump imposes higher tariffs on countries across the world – though many of them are on pause for now – in an effort to boost manufacturing and jobs in the U.S.
Abbott CEO and Chairman Robert Ford said during a call with investors Wednesday morning that he expects the impact of tariffs on Abbott to be “a few hundred million dollars” in the second half of this fiscal year.
“While tariffs will have a financial impact with 90 manufacturing sites around the world … we’re well positioned to implement mitigations to help manage the impacts of the tariffs,” Ford said.
Abbott makes medical devices and baby formula, among many other products.
More to come.