President Donald Trump tried to offer reassurance to potential foreign investors following an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia. That raid ended with hundreds of South Korean workers being detained and eventually returning home.
Trump’s post
The president took to social media to convey his message to foreign investors.
“I don’t want to frighten off or disincentivize Investment into America by outside Countries or Companies,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We welcome them, we welcome their employees, and we are willing to proudly say we will learn from them, and do even better than them at their own ‘game,’ sometime into the not too distant future!”
That post came the same day South Korea said it would investigate potential human rights violations during the raid.
“I think he’s trying to do damage control and project a more welcoming attitude towards foreign direct investment by international companies coming into the United States,” Frank Dubois, Associate Professor of International Business and Chair of the International Business Department at American University, told Straight Arrow News.
The president has emphasized the importance of foreign investment since his first term.
“I found it to be a welcoming response or welcoming message,” Jonathan Samford, President & CEO of the Global Business Alliance, told Straight Arrow News. “I’m emphasizing a position that the president’s long held, which is that international companies are a critical part of the U.S. economy.”
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Those Korean workers came into the country to build the factory, which will be used to make batteries for electric vehicles and more.
“When Foreign Companies who are building extremely complex products, machines, and various other ‘things,’ come into the United States with massive Investments, I want them to bring their people of expertise for a period of time to teach and train our people how to make these very unique and complex products, as they phase out of our Country, and back into their land,” Trump wrote. “If we didn’t do this, all of that massive Investment will never come in the first place — Chips, Semiconductors, Computers, Ships, Trains, and so many other products that we have to learn from others how to make, or, in many cases, relearn, because we used to be great at it, but not anymore.”
Following the completion of the factory, the plan was to have those workers return to South Korea and employ around 6,500 Americans. However, building the factory itself was something Hyundai and its partner, LG, wanted their own people to accomplish.
“The Korean experts have done this back in Korea,” DuBois said. “They’ve gotten the kinks out. They can anticipate problems that might arise – fix those problems.”
Raid fallout
That raid led to the Korean workers going back home following their detainment.
Construction on the new factory, which represents a $7 billion investment in Georgia, has now been postponed until at least next year.
“Korean companies, for example, are reassessing the extent to which they want to make large investments into the U.S., given the uncertainty with respect to tariffs, with respect to immigration for their skilled employees, and he’s trying to work around that, and trying to try to make sure these companies aren’t scared away,” DuBois said.
The raid has also led to a human rights violation investigation.
South Korean authorities plan to work with relevant companies to “thoroughly investigate any potential human rights violations or other issues,” a South Korean presidential spokesperson said to outlets including the BBC during a press briefing.
Economic impact
Assuring foreign companies to continue investing in the U.S. is important because those companies employ around 8 million Americans.
“Foreign direct investment is an economic engine for the United States,” Samford said. “It provides great jobs, millions of jobs, but those jobs also pay, on average, about 7% higher than the economy-wide average.”
Samford added that 22% of the goods manufactured inside the U.S. are done so by international companies.
“When you look at the supply chain effects that these companies have as well, they are purchasing from other domestic companies and small businesses, really supporting millions of jobs across the United States, both in rural parts of the country as well as urban parts of the country,” Samford said. “So, it’s a really important story for the U.S. economy.”
But will this raid on the Hyundai plant impact how foreign investors look at the U.S.?
“That remains to be seen,” DuBois said. “Obviously, we don’t know what’s coming in 2026 in terms of potential economic slowdown because of tariffs, because of the expiration of EV tax cuts. For instance, this Hyundai plant was designed to build electric vehicles and plug in hybrids and things like that. With the expiration of the $7,500 tax credit, EV sales are going to slow significantly from what they’ve been doing now.”
