South Korean Companies Halt Georgia Investments After ICE Raid

Happy Monday! It’s September 8, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift — your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you’ll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning’s edition, we’re looking at the fallout from ICE’s raid at Hyundai’s Georgia factory-to-be, as well as Volkswagen’s headstrong attempts to push through the same threat. Plus, Tesla’s market share continues to crater, and Canada’s EV mandate could be the next victim of the global trade war. 

Last week, a raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained 475 workers at an under-construction Hyundai plant in Georgia. We now know that the vast majority of these workers, about 300, were in from South Korea — and they’re now headed home, after the South Korean government chartered a flight to get them out of the States. It seems, though, that the 300 individuals aren’t the only South Koreans getting out of Dodge. Companies, too, are rethinking their investments in the U.S.; even going so far as to pause their current plans. From the Dong-A Ilbo:

After U.S. immigration authorities stormed the Hyundai Motor-LG Energy Solution battery joint venture plant (HL-GA) in Savannah, Georgia, on Sept. 4 and detained more than 300 Korean employees, a sense that there is “no safe zone,” even for allies, spread quickly. The plant has been cited as one of the largest U.S. investment projects by a global company.

[Head of the Korean American Service and Education Consortium in New York,] Kim Gap-song, who dispatched staff to Savannah to provide interpretation and other support for the detained HL-GA workers, said, “This raid has caused major disruptions to new factory construction across Georgia. I understand some Korean companies have decided to preemptively suspend construction in case of further incidents.”

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Georgia is considered a hub for Korean investment in the United States. More than 110 Korean companies, including Hyundai Motor Group in Savannah, SK On in Commerce, and Hanwha Qcells in Dalton, have set up operations. In a state where Korean firms contribute significantly to local communities, a large, coordinated immigration crackdown by the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration has left many Koreans feeling betrayed.

A local resident said, “Costco and downtown restaurants, once packed with Koreans before the weekend, are now empty.” The resident added, “Many people are avoiding going out at all, worried they could be harmed by unfair raids. Areas that had revived thanks to Korean corporate investment could take a direct hit.”

Obviously, the core approach of ICE raids — detain first, figure out if someone has their paperwork in order second — is more an issue than the specific nationalities of the people detained. ICE is an equal-opportunity hyperactive military wing of an increasingly authoritarian regime. Still, it’s reassuring that 300 of the 475 people detained in this raid can not only get out of the country, but see some justice in the form of an economic impact to the country they’re escaping. 

Despite the turmoil around Hyundai, it seems Volkswagen is still interested in investing in the United States. The company is even talking about building a plant to manufacture Audi cars here, tempting fate for the very same style of raid that’s frozen investment from South Korean corporations in Georgia. From Reuters:

Volkswagen was in advanced talks with the U.S. government over substantial investments in the world’s second-largest auto market, where tariffs have cost Europe’s top carmaker billions of euros so far this year.

Chief Executive Oliver Blume told Reuters that Volkswagen did not appreciate an “assymmetric” deal between Brussels and Washington that foresees tariffs on EU auto imports of 15% and no tariffs for U.S. industrial goods imports into Europe.

“Therefore, we are counting on our plan on investments in the U.S.,” which would boost local employment and VW’s supply chain, Blume said at the IAA Munich car show, adding talks with the U.S. government were “very positive.”

Volkswagen is considering substantial investments to expand its U.S. business, including a plant for its Audi brand, and has held talks about how Washington could lend support.

He hoped for a quick solution “because we need to take decisions right now for localising our business there,” he said.

Best of luck, Oliver! There’s no way to preempt a domestic military operation that detains first and checks for cause second, so I guess you just have to hope you aren’t hit with one. 

At least our homegrown auto brands are still doing well, though! Let’s check in on American darling Tesla, which has long made up the majority of the EV market in the United States. Surely the company is still doing well. Oh? Oh. To shreds, you say. From Reuters:

Tesla’s U.S. market share dropped to a near eight-year low in August as buyers chose electric vehicles from a growing stable of rivals over the aging lineup offered by CEO Elon Musk’s company, according to data from research firm Cox Automotive shared exclusively with Reuters.

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Tesla, which once held more than 80% of the U.S. EV market, accounted for 38% of the total EV sales in the United States in August, the first time it has fallen below the 40% mark since October 2017, when it was ramping up production of the Model 3, its first mass market car, according to early data from Cox.

While other automakers are rolling out new EVs, Tesla has turned its focus to building robotaxis and humanoid robots, delaying and cancelling plans
for cheaper electric vehicle models.

Much of Tesla’s trillion-dollar valuation hangs on that bet. The company’s board on Friday proposed an unprecedented $1 trillion pay package for Musk that, apart from other operational milestones, is pegged to Tesla’s value rising to $8.5 trillion over the next decade.

You mean to tell me that loudly declaring you’re no longer a car company, cutting plans for affordable models, and failing to rein in your CEO as he goes on wild Twitter rants isn’t a great way to run a car company? Well, I am stunned. I gotta lie down. 

Automakers are desperate for nations to ease their emissions requirements, because emissions equipment is expensive and companies could be using that money for executive bonuses. Canada, though, is actually hearing automakers out on their plea — a side effect of how hard the country’s been hit by the U.S. trade war. From the Wall Street Journal: 

Canada will pause its electric-vehicle sales mandate that was set to take effect next year to ease the financial squeeze the domestic auto sector faces from hefty Trump administration tariffs.

Prime Minister Mark Carney added Friday that officials would review the EV sales policy, implemented by his predecessor Justin Trudeau, alongside a broader review of how the Canadian economy can remain competitive while reducing greenhouse gases.

The pause comes as a relief for the domestic auto industry, which repeatedly warned of production shutdowns and job losses in the event Ottawa followed through with rules compelling 20% of all new car sales in 2026 to be in the EV category. The goal was that EVs had to represent all new car sales, starting in 2035. The most recent data from Statistics Canada, covering the first quarter of 2025, indicate that zero-emission vehicles represented about 9% of total new sales, a 23% drop from the comparable year-ago period, as governments scaled back rebates to encourage EV purchases.

Canada will do a 60-day review of its EV policies, so it’s too early to tell how much things will change as a result of this trade war, but it certainly seems like a habitable future is one of the many costs of the Trump administration’s whims. 

Have you been impacted by the de minimis import exemption being revoked yet? I got an email last night that a dress I’d ordered from Walmart for Halloween was refunded, and my order canceled, days after the dress had shipped. It looks like it hasn’t left China yet, which makes it seem like the company just now realized it couldn’t ship it over here under the de minimis exemption. 

I didn’t love Jordan Lake when the sessions first dropped, but I’m coming around on them now.