Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Wednesday, Sept. 10.
The fallout from the U.S. immigration crackdown last week at the Hyundai-LG battery plant project near Savannah, Ga., continued to dominate the headlines today with new reports of additional Korean automotive projects being disrupted by issues related to worker visas.
So far, it appears this remains a Korean crisis, but the risks for all foreign automakers with U.S. expansion plans looms as the Hyundai-LG drama plays out. The South Korean government, as of this morning, was still negotiating with the Trump administration before flying about 300 of its detained workers from Georgia back home.
From the U.S. perspective, the rub is that when foreign companies build new U.S. plants they bring their own workers from overseas to install the technology, machinery and tooling. That's pretty much standard operating procedure.
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One person who previously traveled to the U.S. on the same short-term visa that landed the Hyundai-LG workers in trouble told Bloomberg that it's unrealistic for foreign firms such as LG Energy to replace skilled South Korean staff with U.S. hires.
The person told Bloomberg that such companies require large pools of talented, home-trained personnel who understand every detail of how a battery plant runs. Once that infrastructure is in place, it then becomes easier for U.S. workers to operate the system, Bloomberg wrote.
The person told Bloomberg that as a consequence of what has happened over the past few days, foreign workers won't risk a U.S. trip without the proper visa.
South Korean firms are among the biggest investors in America's automobile and battery supply chains, with firms from LG Energy to SK On building some 22 cell and other manufacturing plants, Bloomberg reported. The projects hinge on moving trained engineers quickly across international borders, the story said.
And a timely reminder: Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung is scheduled to speak tomorrow at the Automotive News Congress in Detroit.
In other news, more details about Toyota Motor Corp.'s U.S. production plans apparently leaked out in this Reuters story.
And more good news for Canada: A third shift should get underway at the Stellantis plant in Windsor next year.
That's it for now. If you want to see this story in your browser, click here.
— Philip Nussel, online editor
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