President Trump’s international economic policies crashed into each in the weekend, when both countries arrested hundreds of South Korea workers by American Immigration Officers at a Hyundai factory in Georgia only after the two countries announced a new trade system.
Trump’s immigration crack has focused a large -scale American southern border and separated from its ongoing reset of international trade. But his two agendas collision on Saturday increased tension.
300 South Korean workers who were Defected in immigration raid The Yonhap news agency on Monday, citing an official of the South Korean Foreign Ministry, said on Monday that there is a possibility of leaving the US without formally deporting after official consultation between Seoul and Washington.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said on Saturday that he was considering a trip to the US to discuss the arrests made at the battery plant in Elabel, GA.
According to Yonhap, Cho said during an emergency meeting, “We are deeply concerned and feel a huge feeling of responsibility on the arrest of our citizens.” “We will discuss sending a senior Foreign Ministry official on the site without any delay, and if necessary, I will personally travel to Washington.”
While trying to promote domestic production and make manufacturing jobs, the White House is also trying to invest foreign companies more in the US. Weekend raids at the battery plant saw some policy experts as the administration tripped on its objectives.
“There was probably no coordination to address the part where we want to revive American manufacturing, and foreign investors get to invest billions in the US, but also provide a process that allows workers to establish factors.”
South Korean companies have been investing huge in the US in recent years, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynex inserted capital in semiconductor production, and SK on Company and Samsung SDI Building battery factories American car manufacturer GM and Ford.
The immigration raid at the Hyundai-LG facility over the weekend has sent shower through Korean-American businesses and expressed concern that joint enterprises between the two countries are being kept on notice. Korean companies include many areas of the US heavy industry, including shipbuilding, power equipment, and steel production.
Major Korean investment projects in the trade community are growing concerns in the business community. ,
America and South Korea Announced a joint economic initiative of $ 350 billion In late July, the base of the US tariff deficiency on Korean imports was 25 percent to 15 percent.
The new fund established by the agreement “will actively help the Korean companies enter the US market in industries, where we have strength,” President Lee J. Mayung said in a social media post, which mentions ships, semiconductors, energy, biotechnology and batteries.
While the new initiative lacks many nuances, the weekend’s immigration raid put it in a new light, which is a matter of concern with former officials about the scale of South Korean investment in the US.
Former South Korea’s former Vice President Choi Jong-Gan told the Washington Post on Monday, “I have really become speechless and furious.” “We spend a lot of money in the United States and we slap on the face.”
According to an estimate of the US Enterprise Institute, the US -based 205,000 people as a result of the vast immigration crack of about 205,000 people this year as a result of the huge immigration crack of Trump, a drop that is already visible in labor data and ready for permanent economic effects.
The US added only 22,000 jobs in August, bringing the average of three months per month under 29,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate stood from 4.2 percent to 4.3 percent last month as well as the jawans had increased the available posts by about 200,000.
Manufacturing jobs in the US are declining in recent months, despite the administration’s efforts to increase them. Jobs in the region fell by 12,000 in August after a decline of 2,000 in July and 17,000 in June. Since last year, manufacturing employment has fallen from 40,000 posts, a long -term trend continues.
Economists feel that the lack of immigration is going to change the definition of “complete employment”, which considers the Federal Reserve when it tweakes the interbank interest rate overnight.
“Possible employment growth, employment growth means when the labor market is continuously working on ‘complete employment’, in the second half of 2025 can be between 10,000 and 40,000 jobs in a month (from 140,000 to 180,000 in 2024), and the growth in potential jobs may be negative in the second half of Trump’s tenure,” Arthashastri Wendy and others wrote for AEI.
The immigration raid also injects new uncertainty in a policy environment, something that is often complaining to businesses during Trump’s new tariff regime’s stop-and-start delivery.
“With all these challenges and obstacles, it is really difficult to make any prediction and forecasts how well your business is going to grow in the US” said these Bruckings. “This is something that I think South Korean must be thinking about the people.”
