On March 24th local time, Hyundai Motor Group of South Korea officially announced at the White House that it plans to make a strategic investment of up to $21 billion in the United States by 2028. Once the news was announced, it immediately attracted widespread attention from all walks of life. US President Trump commented on it, and Korean netizens also engaged in heated discussions.
According to Hyundai Motor Group, the $21 billion investment will be divided into three major sectors: $8.6 billion for the automotive business; 6.1 billion US dollars invested in the parts, logistics, and steel industries; 6.3 billion US dollars to layout future industries and energy sectors. Not only that, Hyundai also plans to increase the production capacity of its electric vehicle dedicated plant (HMGMA) located in Georgia, USA, from the current 300000 vehicles to 500000 vehicles. To support the expansion of production capacity, the group plans to build a new electric furnace steel plant with an annual output of 2.7 million tons of steel in Louisiana. After completion, it is expected to create more than 1400 job opportunities, specifically for supplying automotive steel plates to Hyundai's factories in the United States.
Trump attended the investment plan announcement event on the same day and stated that "this investment clearly demonstrates that the tariff measures are very effective. He also revealed that the US government may announce more tariffs on imported cars this week, and as the effective date of "equivalent tariffs" approaches on April 2, the US may provide tariff preferences to some countries, but only if "equivalence" is achieved.
After being reported by South Korean media, this news sparked heated discussions within South Korea. Some netizens have expressed support for Hyundai's investment plan, but there are also many netizens who have expressed concerns that "jobs are flowing to the United States", and even some have raised questions about whether the Korean manufacturing industry will gradually disappear. Regarding Trump's remarks, some netizens commented on social platform X, saying, "It's really shocking! Because everything good that happens in the United States is obviously because of Trump, and all bad things are someone else's fault.
It is worth noting that against the backdrop of a new round of tariffs coming into effect in the United States, car manufacturers from various countries have taken action one after another. According to a report by the Financial Times on the 23rd, car manufacturers in Japan, South Korea, and Europe are rushing to ship cars and a large number of core components to the United States to reduce the potential damage of tariffs to the automotive supply chain.
The large-scale investment plan of Hyundai Motor not only reflects the interaction between the United States and South Korea in the automotive industry, but also brings many uncertainties to the development of the global automotive industry and international trade pattern. The future direction of US tariff policies, the specific implementation of Hyundai's investment plan, and further reactions from South Korea are all worthy of continuous attention.
(Editer：admin)
