Trump’s Hyundai ICE raid undercuts his own trade goals

Seoul and Washington had been at odds over tariffs for months.  

After finally reaching the end stages of a trade deal, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung extended an olive branch to President Trump in an August White House meeting that was widely reported as an unexpected success. 

Lee’s reward? An ICE operation targeting hundreds of South Korean nationals at a Hyundai factory in Georgia, touted by the Trump administration as the largest raid of its kind in ICE’s history.

Last week’s raid was an ominous signal not only to Seoul — a U.S. economic partner and frontline bastion against China and North Korea — but to American allies across the world. If workers from an allied country like South Korea can be targeted en masse, anyone could be next.

Footage of workers in shackles united South Koreans across the political spectrum in outrage, just months after a bitter political crisis triggered by former conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law and removal from office. 

An editorial by South Korea’s newspaper of record, The Chosun Ilbo, said the raid “undermined trust” between Seoul and Washington. Lawmakers on both sides of Seoul’s National Assembly condemned the move, and questioned the viability of further investment in the U.S. 

The raid came as a surprise — South Korea thought it had done everything right. They reached the final stages of a trade deal with the U.S. that committed $350 billion in South Korean investment in the U.S. After Lee’s visit to the White House, Hyundai had increased a previous $21 billion pledge in U.S. investment to $26 billion. 

Now, Hyundai is warning its employees to reschedule business trips to the United States. 

Trump’s rhetoric in the wake of the raid isn’t assuaging any fears. In a Truth Social post, he called on “all Foreign Companies investing in the United States to please respect our Nation’s Immigration Laws.” 

ICE’s aggressive enforcement has caused a serious diplomatic row with a vital economic and security ally with no demonstrated benefit, undermining Trump’s own goal of increasing foreign investment in the U.S. ICE claims the raid was to protect American jobs — instead, they jeopardized them. 

The workers detained at the Hyundai factory were not the drug traffickers or violent criminals that the Trump administration has attempted to make the face of its immigration enforcement. Instead, they were facilitating the construction of an electric vehicle battery plant that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp had promoted as the largest economic development project in state history, employing north of a thousand people. 

Not only has construction at the Georgia facility been interrupted, future South Korean investment, and potential American jobs, could now be on the line. The South Korean government and industry leaders are unlikely to forget about this incident, especially if Trump stays true to his promise of continuing enforcement against foreign workers. 

The ICE operation and Trump’s unapologetic reaction to its aftermath have also put America’s other allies on notice: no one is exempt from ICE’s sweeping mandate. This will undoubtedly make foreign investors think twice before entering the U.S. market. 

Trump has a decision to make: will he prioritize his goal to increase foreign investment in the U.S. and rebalance trade, or will he enable further aggressive enforcement by ICE that jeopardizes America’s alliances?  

South Korea has already demonstrated extraordinary patience. Last month, the South Korean Foreign Ministry had to intervene in the high-profile case of the detention of Yeonsoo Go, a 20-year-old South Korean Purdue student who was detained after an immigration hearing to extend her still-valid visa. The case of Go, who is the daughter of the first woman ordained in the Seoul Diocese of the Anglican Church of Korea, infuriated faith leaders in the U.S. and South Korea alike. Raids like the one in Georgia make Seoul fear that actions against South Koreans in America are a pattern, not an anomaly.

The Trump administration should not seek to continue testing South Korea’s patience if it truly wants to reap the benefits of the hard-fought trade deal being finalized with Seoul. It would also be remiss to sour the good-faith gestures made by a vital economic and security ally that often finds itself being pulled back and forth between American and Chinese orbits. ICE was created after 9/11 to protect America’s national security — not to jeopardize it. 

Kareem Rifai is a graduate student at the Georgetown Security Studies program.