Donald Trump reaffirmed that rebuilding U.S. manufacturing will require the help of foreign skilled workers. It is seen as a remark made with an eye to his hard-line base's backlash against the inflow of foreign workers.
On the 19th (local time), President Trump devoted a substantial portion of his speech at a U.S.-Saudi investment forum in Washington, D.C., to explaining why foreign investors who build factories in the United States should be able to bring in skilled workers from abroad.
He said that building and operating a "very complicated factory," such as the semiconductor plant that the Taiwan corporations TSMC is constructing in Arizona, requires thousands of foreign skilled workers, adding, "I would welcome those people."
He also mentioned immigration authorities' crackdown on workers at a Korean battery factory. President Trump said, "I said, 'Don't be stupid and do that,' and we fixed it, and now they (the Korean workers) are teaching our people."
On Sept. in Georgia, after an incident in which about 300 Korean workers were arrested by immigration authorities at a battery factory construction site, President Trump said he would allow the entry of foreign skilled workers to transfer manufacturing technology.
In response, the hard-line base of President Trump, "MAGA" (Make America Great Again), reacted strongly, because they believe foreign workers take American jobs and therefore oppose measures such as expanding visas.
President Trump said, "I love my conservative friends and I love MAGA," but added, "Those people (foreign skilled workers) will teach our people how to make computer chips." He continued, "Then those people can probably go back to the homes they've always wanted to go to."
It is seen as an attempt to mollify his base by arguing that foreign workers will return to their home countries instead of staying in the United States.
He said, "If we don't allow people who have invested billions of dollars in factories and equipment to bring lots of their own people from their own countries to open, run and operate the factories, we will not succeed," adding, "My approval rating just went down, but among smart people the approval shot way up."
According to a poll released by Reuters on the 18th, President Trump's approval rating was 38%, the lowest of his second term. During the first term, President Trump's lowest approval rating was 33%.