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| ▲ U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Sept. 7, 2025, in this photo released by Reuters. (Yonhap) |
Trump-S Korea
Trump says U.S. has 'great' relationship with S. Korea despite Koreans detained in immigration raid
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (Yonhap) -- President Donald Trump said Sunday the United States has a "great" relationship with South Korea despite some 300 Koreans detained in a recent immigration crackdown in Georgia, while noting the need for outside people to come and train American workers in battery, shipbuilding and other sectors.
Trump also urged foreign businesses to "legally" bring their "smart" people to build products in the U.S., saying his administration will make it "quickly and legally" possible for them to do so.
His remarks came after U.S. immigration authorities raided an electric vehicle battery plant construction site for a joint venture of Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution in Bryan County on Thursday, leading to the arrest of 475 people.
"No, we have a great relationship with South Korea, really good relationship," Trump told reporters, responding to a question about whether the raid is "straining" relations with Korea, after he visited the U.S. Open men's tennis final in New York.
"You know, we just made a trade deal (with Korea)," he added.
Trump noted the need for the influx of "some" people into the U.S. so as to train American workers.
"When they're building batteries ... if you don't have people in this country right now that know about batteries, maybe we should help them along and let some people come in and train our people to do complex things, whether it's battery manufacturing or computer manufacturing or building ships," he said.
He then said that his administration will look at the "whole situation" in an apparent reference to visa-related issues that have hampered Korean businesses' efforts to bring their staff into the U.S.
"We have a lot of industries that we don't have anymore, and we're going to have to train people and the way you train people is bring people in ... know what they're doing and let them stay for a little while and help," he said. "So I'm going to look at that."
He appeared to be signaling his willingness to explore ways to help highly skilled Korean workers gain stable legal status to work in the U.S.
In a social media post later in the day, Trump struck a similar note, mentioning last week's raid into the Korean facility in Georgia.
"I am hereby calling on all Foreign Companies investing in the United States to please respect our Nation's Immigration Laws. Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people, with great technical talent, to build World Class products," he wrote on Truth Social.
"And we will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so. What we ask in return is that you hire and train American Workers. Together, we will all work hard to make our Nation not only productive, but closer in unity than ever before."
On Friday, Trump expressed his support for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation, describing those detained as "illegal aliens."
ICE has unveiled a short video clip of the raid into the Korean plant site, showing Korean and other workers being screened, shackled with handcuffs and metal chains, and loaded onto an "inmate transport" vehicle.
The video footage was met with anger and anxiety in South Korea, with some raising questions over the raid's potential impact on South Korean businesses' investment activities in the U.S.
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