"Battery manufacturing is complex... Attempted to expel skilled workers"
"Costs are low... Will lower coffee tariffs"
On November 11 (local time), President Donald Trump of the United States addressed the recent arrest and detention of Koreans in Georgia, stating that foreign technical personnel needed for attracting overseas investment should be brought into the United States.
In an interview aired on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle" that day, President Trump said, "There are certain skills you don't have. In that case, people have to learn," adding, "You have to bring in talented people."
When the host asked, "Shouldn't we avoid bringing in large numbers of foreign workers if we want to raise American workers' wages?" President Trump responded by discussing the H-1B professional visa policy, sharing these views.
Referring to the case in Georgia, President Trump said, "There were Koreans there who had been making batteries their entire lives. Battery manufacturing is very complex. It's not easy, it's very dangerous, explosions happen frequently, and there are many problems." He continued, "They tried to bring in about 500 to 600 people in the early stages to make batteries and teach others how to do it," adding, "But there was an attempt to kick them out of the country."
Previously, in September, immigration authorities raided the construction site of the Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution joint battery plant in Georgia and detained 317 Korean workers who had entered the country using B-1 visas or the visa waiver Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) program. Since then, South Korea and the United States have launched a working group to discuss improvements to the visa system.
President Trump's remarks may be interpreted as expressing regret over the process in which immigration authorities arrested and detained Korean workers.
President Trump stated, "When a country comes in and says it will invest 10 billion dollars to build a factory, you can't just take people from the list of unemployed who haven't worked for five years and say, 'Now let's make missiles.' That's not how things work."
Recently, the Democratic Party has continued to criticize the Trump administration over 'high inflation.' In response, President Trump said, "We are doing incredibly well. This is the best economy we've ever had," adding, "Our costs now are much lower than under the previous Biden administration."
However, he added, "Beef and coffee are a bit expensive," and said, "We will lower some coffee tariffs."
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