Hyundai Raid Spurs Trump Plan to Train US Battery Workforce
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President Donald Trump said he wants to find a way to bring in experts to train U.S. workers following an immigration raid at a South Korean-owned electric vehicle battery factory in Georgia.
“You don’t have people in this country who know about batteries,” Trump told reporters Sept 7 as he returned to Washington from watching the U.S. Open tennis final. “Maybe we should help them along and let some people come in and train our people.”
South Korean officials are trying to secure the release of 300 of its citizens detained at a construction site for a Hyundai Motor Co.-LG Energy Solution Ltd. joint venture.
The Korean workers may be able to board a chartered flight around Sept. 10 to return home, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing comments from Consul General Cho Ki-joong at a Georgia detention center where the workers are being held.
“We do have to work something out where we bring in experts so our people can be trained, so they can do it themselves,” Trump said.
He later called on foreign companies to respect U.S. immigration laws, saying in a post on Truth Social that his administration will “make it quickly and legally possible” to bring workers in as long as companies hire and train U.S. workers.
The crackdown has rattled South Korea and raised questions about the country’s willingness and ability to deliver promises it made to the Trump administration to invest additional hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S.
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