After an immigration raid at a South Korean–owned battery plant in Georgia, President Trump struck a softer tone, suggesting temporary visas for skilled workers to “teach and train our people.”
“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 in a Truth Social post Sunday. “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.”
The president continued: “For example, shipbuilding, where we used to build a ship a day and now, we barely build a ship a year. I don’t want to frighten off or disincentivize investment into America by outside countries or companies. 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!”
Following the Georgia immigration raid earlier this month, South Korea warned it could reduce investment in the U.S. Federal agents detained more than 300 workers — 316 of them South Korean — over alleged visa violations. Video of workers in handcuffs being led away sparked outrage in Seoul, where officials denounced the treatment as humiliating and warned it could damage economic relations between the two countries. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung urged U.S. visa reforms in response, warning Korean firms may limit U.S. expansion unless skilled workers are assured lawful temporary status for high-value jobs.
“It’s not like these are long-term workers,” Lee, who visited the Oval Office on Aug. 25, said. “When you build a factory or install equipment at a factory, you need technicians, but the United States doesn’t have that workforce and yet they won’t issue visas to let our people stay and do the work. If that’s not possible, then establishing a local factory in the United States will either come with severe disadvantages or become very difficult for our companies. They will wonder whether they should even do it.”
Lee criticized the raid, calling it a “cultural difference” in how the two nations approach immigration, adding: “In South Korea, we see Americans coming on tourist visas to teach English at private cram schools — they do it all the time, and we don’t think much of it. It’s just something you accept. But the United States clearly doesn’t see things that way. On top of that, U.S. immigration authorities pledge to strictly forbid illegal immigration and employment and carry out deportations in various aggressive ways, and our people happened to be caught in one of those cases.”
The issue sits at the crossroads of immigration, trade, and industrial policy. While the Biden administration has subsidized foreign investment in chips and clean energy, labor mobility for skilled workers remains restricted. Trump, typically tough on immigration, struck a more pragmatic note here, emphasizing the need for foreign expertise to keep America competitive.
With manufacturers and foreign investors watching, the challenge is whether Washington can align strict immigration rules with its drive for high-tech investment — a balance that could shape America’s industrial future.
