President Trump has a bold suggestion to fix America’s manufacturing woes. He wants foreign experts to come to the U.S. temporarily to train Americans — then head home right after.
"When foreign companies who are building extremely complex products, machines … come into the United States with massive investments, I want them to bring their people of expertise for a period of time to teach and train our people,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social Post [1].
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He added that these experts should then “phase out of our country, and back into their land.”
Given the recent crackdown on immigration enforcement, could this actually work?
Why Trump wants foreigners to share know-how when they set up U.S. production
According to Fox News, Trump believes that America is falling behind in advanced industries like microchip production. Having stronger domestic supply chains, especially in chips and batteries, is seen as critical for both economic and national security [2].
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Concerns about economic and national security have also spurred his desire to boost shipyard capacity. In a presidential order to restore the shipbuilding industry, he said China constructs half of the world’s ships and the U.S. just 1%, observing that America’s shipbuilding and maritime workforce have been neglected.
He believes the solution is to entice foreign companies that are leaders in these industries to set up production centres in the U.S., and bring their teams with them to train Americans on the job.
"We are willing to proudly say we will learn from them, and do even better than them at their own ‘game,’ sometime into the not too distant future!" Trump said in his Truth Social post.
Some foreign companies have answered his call and are planning to expand production in the U.S., according to Investopedia.
They include chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Nvidia, which has pledged $500 billion to build supercomputers in the U.S. [3].
But despite the potential for benefits, there are some big hurdles to overcome.
Trump’s desire to bring in foreign trainers clashes with immigration crackdown
One challenge is immigration rules. Current visa categories don’t fit short-term technical training, and workarounds (like B-1 business visas, which are meant for consulting purposes) have been misused.
Meanwhile, Trump’s immigration crackdowns are in direct conflict with his trade plans. Case in point: A recent ICE raid at Hyundai’s Georgia battery plant, where 475 workers affiliated with the South Korean company were detained.
As The New York Times reports, detainees included the kind of highly skilled experts Trump wants to share their knowledge — like Park Sun-kyu, who has helped build EV battery plants in Michigan and Ohio.
“My main takeaway is that America is not a safe place to work,” he told the New York Times. “I don’t think I would go there again to work.”
Not only did these foreign workers feel betrayed, but the move rattled the foreign business community and sparked diplomatic tension with South Korea [4].
In a followup post, Trump did little to assuage their concerns [5]:
"Following the Immigration Enforcement Operation on the Hyundai Battery Plant in Georgia, I am hereby calling on all Foreign Companies investing in the United States to please respect our Nation’s Immigration Laws."
Meanwhile, domestically, Trump may face pushback from unions and other domestic stakeholders who may view foreign trainers as a threat to domestic job opportunities.
Longer term, foreign mentorships may be just a short-term fix for U.S. manufacturing if our education and training programs cannot provide a steady pipeline of skilled American workers.
What to remember
Having foreign workers train Americans could result in skill building and knowledge transfer, providing U.S. workers with hands-on experience in advanced technologies or production methods.
The U.S. Department of Labor outlines some key considerations to developing effective foreign labor programs.
Create clear training visa categories. Visas would need a clearly defined duration, rights, oversight, and documentation to allow foreign experts to enter, train U.S. workers, then return.
Strong oversight. Foreign experts should have clear documentation that outlines their role, the period they’ll be here, the training responsibilities, and protections (e.g. wages, living conditions, legal status, liability).
Labor standards and enforcement. There would have to be consistent, fair and predictable enforcement of immigration law. Wage and labor protections should be maintained to avoid undercutting domestic workers.
Legal and trade safeguards. Safeguards should be in place to make sure foreign firms agree to respect U.S. defense or export control rules.
Stable policy. Companies need to feel confident that the visa policy, trade policy, tax and tariff regimes are stable. If there are frequent sudden changes, it creates a risky environment.
Having foreign experts train domestic workers could be beneficial to U.S. factories and help give America an edge in global competition, but it’s not without risk.
Even with the support of foreign experts, the U.S. needs stronger training pipelines at home to future-proof the work. Immigration rules also have to be applied carefully, or there could be backlash from both foreign companies and the very workers Trump says he wants to help.
Article sources
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[1]. Truth Social
[2]. Fox News “Trump encourages foreign companies to bring manufacturing experts to train US workers: ‘We welcome them’"
[3]. Investopedia "Companies Are Planning to Build Factories In America. Are Trump’s Tariffs Working?"
[4]. New York Times “‘America Is Not a Safe Place to Work’: Koreans Describe Georgia Raid”
[5]. X post
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