"Welcoming Foreign Companies"…Trump Breaks a Sweat Handling Detention of Korean Workers

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"We'll learn from them"

U.S. President Donald Trump said on the 14th (local time), "I don't want to scare away or dampen the enthusiasm of other countries or foreign companies investing in the United States."

President Trump wrote on the social media platform Truth Social, "We welcome them.

We welcome their employees." He added, "We will learn from them, and we can proudly say that in the not-too-distant future we will do better than them in their areas of expertise."

Although President Trump did not mention any specific country or company, the remarks have been interpreted as a response to the recent large-scale detention of Koreans by U.S. immigration authorities. On the 4th, U.S. authorities arrested and detained 475 people, including 317 Koreans who were working at the Hyundai Motor Group-LG Energy Solution joint battery plant construction site in Georgia.

The detained Koreans were released after about a week, but reports that some of them were legal visa holders have sparked both backlash against what is seen as excessive enforcement by U.S. authorities and concerns about a chilling effect on corporate investment.

President Trump said, "When foreign companies come to the United States with huge investments to make very complex products, machines, and various things, I want them to bring their specialist personnel for a period and train Americans how to make these very unique and complex products until they leave."

He added, "If we don't do this, the huge investments in many products — such as semiconductors, computers, ships, and trains — where we would have to learn how to make them from other countries, or that we often did well in the past but now have to relearn, will not come in the first place." Reporter Song Jong-hyun scream@hankyung.com