Sources said at least 22 other factory sites involving Korean business groups, in autos, shipbuilding, steel and electrical equipment, have been nearly halted.
I love how they still try to be super polite about it:
"Korean workers are being treated like criminals for building factories that Washington itself lobbied for. If this continues, investment in the US could be reconsidered."
> "With H-1B and L-1 work visas, which are harder to obtain, in short supply, Korean firms have routinely rotated engineers through 90-day ESTA entries or short-term B-1 visas to meet tight construction schedules"
As I mentioned multiple times before, this is a callous disregard of US immigration and labor laws.
VW Group has built battery factories in the South as well, and Germany has VWP priviliges as well, but they never abused the VWP or B1/2 program. Same with Japan's Panasonic
Heck, Daimler has built a similar sized gigafactory in MS without resorting to similar shenanigans to Hyundai or LG [2]
This plant that Hyundai-LG has been building has seen multiple, persistent OSHA violations [0] at a rate that is severely higher than comparable projects in the US [1].
If the news was flipped and we saw a report that Tesla is building a gigafactory in Korea and bringing in American construction workers without filing for formal work visas in Korea, that would be unacceptable. This is very much the same thing.
If this is acceptable, then why don't we completely disregard H1B regulations when hiring in the tech industry?
Can someone give me a reason why we should allow Korea a special exemption on construction labor and not the rest of the EU, Japan, Taiwan, and other allies?
> If the news was flipped and we saw a report that Tesla is building a gigafactory in Korea and bringing in American construction workers without filing for formal work visas in Korea, that would be unacceptable
If Seoul then shackled those workers and treated them in a way we’d find barely acceptable for POWs, you really think there wouldn’t be an irrational outburst in Washington?
The only leverage countries have against the US is exporting something that the US wants. Rare earths, electronics, cars, etc.
If they are blackmailed via tariffs to build factories in the US so that the US becomes self-sufficient, there is no leverage at all. So don't build these factories.
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[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 34.2 ms ] thread"Korean workers are being treated like criminals for building factories that Washington itself lobbied for. If this continues, investment in the US could be reconsidered."
"could be reconsidered"
As I mentioned multiple times before, this is a callous disregard of US immigration and labor laws.
VW Group has built battery factories in the South as well, and Germany has VWP priviliges as well, but they never abused the VWP or B1/2 program. Same with Japan's Panasonic
Heck, Daimler has built a similar sized gigafactory in MS without resorting to similar shenanigans to Hyundai or LG [2]
This plant that Hyundai-LG has been building has seen multiple, persistent OSHA violations [0] at a rate that is severely higher than comparable projects in the US [1].
If the news was flipped and we saw a report that Tesla is building a gigafactory in Korea and bringing in American construction workers without filing for formal work visas in Korea, that would be unacceptable. This is very much the same thing.
If this is acceptable, then why don't we completely disregard H1B regulations when hiring in the tech industry?
Can someone give me a reason why we should allow Korea a special exemption on construction labor and not the rest of the EU, Japan, Taiwan, and other allies?
[0] - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/12/immigration-...
[1] - https://www.ajc.com/news/2025/06/construction-deaths-injurie...
[2] - https://www.daimlertruck.com/en/newsroom/pressrelease/accele...
If Seoul then shackled those workers and treated them in a way we’d find barely acceptable for POWs, you really think there wouldn’t be an irrational outburst in Washington?
If they are blackmailed via tariffs to build factories in the US so that the US becomes self-sufficient, there is no leverage at all. So don't build these factories.