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The September incident, which saw federal agents detain 475 workers at a Hyundai-LG Energy facility, hasn’t dented Hyundai’s commitment to investing in the U.S.

South Korea Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom said that Seoul would spend $150 billion on shipbuilding in the U.S. and provide $200 billion in cash under an investment pledge.

Last month saw the mass detainment and subsequent repatriation of nearly 300 South Korean workers from a Hyundai Motor-LG electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia.

Every one of the countries identified by the U.S. Department of Commerce Foreign Trade Division as a top supplier by export value of trucks to the U.S. warned the agency against the levies.

Hyundai CEO José Muñoz said in an interview Sept. 11 that the work was being set back by two to three months.

More than 300 South Koreans were among about 475 workers detained during last week’s raid at the battery factory under construction on the campus of Hyundai’s auto plant west of Savannah.

Still, President Trump indicated that the agreement for a 15% tariff on South Korean imports would likely stick as is, despite Seoul’s efforts to secure better terms. 

Trump on July 31 announced tariffs of 15% on imports from South Korea that matched the rate for neighbor Japan, and a painful 25% levy on imports from India.

The letters issued July 7 so far appeared to largely be a novel method of again punting a looming July 9 deadline for so-called “reciprocal” tariffs until at least the beginning of August.