[Good Morning Economy] Hyundai Motor will also join the donation procession... "Pays $1 million for Trump's inauguration."

■ Host: Anchor Lee Jung-seop, Anchor Cho Ye-jin
■ Starring: Professor Seo Eun-sook, Department of Economics and Finance at Sangmyung University

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN News START] when quoting.

◇Anchor> Since Trump was elected, companies have been making donations every day, and Hyundai Motor has also joined. It's been reported that you've donated $1 million, but it's been reported that you've donated for the first time to the inauguration of the president of the United States, what's the background?

◆Seo Eun-sook> This has something to do with the policy stance of the second Trump administration. If we summarize the policy stance briefly, we will now protect U.S. manufacturing under the policy stance that advocates America First, and then we will protect U.S. manufacturing. And there is a part that says it will create jobs in Korea.

The third is the conflict with China. All three of these are very closely linked to Korea's automobile industry, and it can be seen that the ripple effect on the automobile industry is very large. So if you look at it, it's very likely that we will actually impose higher tariffs on automobiles and parts produced overseas due to the policy of manufacturing in the United States and prioritizing job creation. In addition, Trump is now vowing to impose more than 100% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which were his big trading partners, starting from his first day in office, so in our country, according to KOTRA's data, we are now producing cars and auto parts for U.S. exports from Mexico. This is about 100 companies in total, including Kia, Hyundai Mobis, and Hyundai Weah, where Korean companies operate Montray factories.

So, it seems that the imposition of tariffs will not be small. When we put this universal tariff, which is 10% universal tariff, the Korea Institute of Industrial Economics and Trade says that almost exports will decrease by 13.6%. As a result, Hyundai Motor has no choice but to actively respond to this trade policy. So the response that we're doing now is to make production investments to build an investment base in the United States, to increase company investments, and then to make technologically superior products in the electric vehicle sector, where subsidies are now eliminated.

So, even during Trump's first term, he had already planned to actively invest in building automobile facilities. Then, in 2022, we are operating a factory in Georgia, USA. So, I know that it will be officially opened and operated this year. So I will participate in Trump's inauguration and cooperate. And it seems like he's just donated about $10 billion to Trump's inauguration to deliver a message that he's going to make a huge contribution to job creation in the U.S. and then to the U.S. economy. Not only this, but now, starting with Ford, Toyota and others are all donating about $10 billion in donations and cars to the inauguration, so it seems to have been done at the same level.

Excerpted from
: Lee Sun Digital News Team Editor

#YRecord