(By Observer Net, Zhang Jiadong, Editor: Gao Xin)

Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that the chairman of South Korea's largest automaker, Hyundai Motor Group, Euisun Chung, stated that the group is trying to deepen its relationship with the United States and appease the Trump administration through a series of measures.

However, in the current situation, Hyundai's proactive overtures have not yielded results.

New Hyundai and Kia vehicles parked at Seattle Port, Bloomberg

In recent years, Euisun Chung has been striving to maintain Hyundai Motor Group's position in the U.S. market. Financial reports show that in 2025, Hyundai Motor Group had a global sales share of 30% and an income share of 38% in North America, far exceeding other regions and South Korea itself.

Therefore, since Trump officially took office this year, the head of Hyundai Group has repeatedly shown goodwill to the U.S. government. In addition to donating $1 million (approximately 7.124 million RMB) at Trump's inauguration ceremony, in March this year, Hyundai Motor also pledged to invest about $21 billion (approximately 149.6 billion RMB) in the U.S.

Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group Euisun Chung (rightmost) visiting the White House, Getty Images

Although these investments earned Euisun Chung and Hyundai executives a trip to the White House, they did not bring direct benefits to Hyundai, but rather became capital for Trump to boast about his "tariff policy." Trump praised the investment on social media, claiming it proved his tariffs were "very effective."

Moreover, just a few days after Hyundai announced its major investment in the U.S., Trump announced a 25% tariff on global car exports, and Hyundai was also affected.

However, Hyundai Motor did not give up, but took more measures to please Trump. In April, before the U.S. tariffs were implemented, Hyundai said it would transfer the production of a popular SUV from Kia's Mexican factory to its Alabama factory in the U.S.; in August, Euisun Chung stated that he would increase the previous investment amount of 21 billion USD to 26 billion USD (approximately 185.22 billion RMB).

Modern factory in Georgia raided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

It is worth noting that shortly after the additional investment in August, Trump signed a search warrant for a raid on Modern's Georgia factory targeting immigrants and arrested about 450 workers, including 300 Koreans.

Modern Motor officials explained that they are willing to hire Americans, but also admitted it is not realistic because American workers lack the necessary expertise, especially in battery technology.

The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs later stated that the release of 317 detained Koreans was delayed by one day because Trump required them to train American workers for a longer time.

Since the raid incident, Hyundai reaffirmed its commitment to investing in the U.S. and its plan to increase production in the U.S. The company stated in a statement that it acknowledges the efforts of the South Korean government to support local companies operating in the U.S., and added that the company will celebrate its 40th anniversary in the U.S. next year, with the total amount of its previous and ongoing investments exceeding 45 billion USD (approximately 320.55 billion RMB).

Moreover, even though Hyundai continues to use sales data to prove that its choice to rely on the U.S. market is correct, the impact of tariffs has not changed.

Wall Street Journal

According to statistics, this year, Hyundai's sales in the U.S. have set new records. In September, Hyundai's sales in the U.S. increased by 14% compared to the previous year. However, under the impact of U.S. tariffs, Hyundai's operating profit fell by 82.8 billion won (approximately 416 million RMB) in the second quarter alone this year.

At the same time, although Hyundai once threatened to raise prices in the U.S. to cover tariff losses, it ultimately did not pass on the costs to American consumers. Instead, it said it would compensate for the cost of purchasing cars due to the expiration of U.S. electric vehicle tax credits starting from this month through price reductions or cash rewards.

According to insiders, as an important factor in the tariff negotiations between South Korea and the U.S., Hyundai's repeated overtures to Trump will be strongly condemned by the South Korean government, which believes that Hyundai's excessive public enthusiasm for quickly reaching a trade solution may weaken South Korea's leverage in trade negotiations with the Trump administration.

In July this year, South Korea and the U.S. reached a framework for a trade agreement. At that time, the South Korean side promised to establish a 350 billion USD (approximately 2.5 trillion RMB) fund for U.S. investments to exchange for the U.S. reducing the "reciprocal" tariff rate on South Korean imports from 25% to 15%. However, in subsequent negotiations, the U.S. requested that the South Korean side increase the proportion of direct cash investments in the fund. This has led to no agreement on specific implementation plans between the two sides to date.

Hyundai Motor assembly plant near Savannah, Georgia, Wall Street Journal

However, just as South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol publicly expressed his unwillingness to "yield" to U.S. investment demands, Hyundai Group again "submitted" to the U.S. in September. The company said that in response to U.S. tariff policies, it plans to produce more than 80% of the cars sold in the U.S. domestically by 2030, and is currently increasing the capacity of its Georgia factory.

This article is an exclusive work of Observer Net. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7559441504280838698/

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