Trump Trade: EV battery plant raid raises new risks for shaken industry

Catch up on the top industries and stocks that were impacted, or were predicted to be impacted, by the comments, actions and policies of President Donald Trump with this daily recap compiled by The Fly:

GEORGIA RAID: The immigration raid last week on an electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia owned by two South Korean manufacturers was yet another setback for what had been a fast-growing industry in the U.S., The New York Times’ Farah Stockman and Rebecca F. Elliott report. The sector was already beleaguered by lower-than-expected demand for electric vehicles, tariffs on raw materials and the rapid phaseout of a federal tax credit for purchases of E.V.s, which have led companies to delay or scale back production.

But the raid at the plant under construction in Ellabell, Ga., which is owned by the carmaker Hyundai (HYMLF) and battery supplier LG Energy Solution, raised more risks for foreign manufacturers in the United States. Immigration officials arrested 475 people. Of them, about 300 were South Korean citizens, according to the South Korean foreign minister’s office.

The South Korean citizens detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai Motor plan in Georgia are expected to return home on a voluntary basis instead of being deported, which will allow the detainees to avoid a lengthy re-entry ban, Dasl Yoon of The Wall Street Journal reports, citing Seoul’s Foreign Ministry.

LEXUS PRODUCTION: Toyota (TM) will consolidate production of its luxury Lexus brand cars in the U.S. into a single location from two in the face of high tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, Nikkei Asia’s Azusa Kawakami reports. The move is aimed at strengthening U.S. production of gas-electric hybrid vehicles while shifting some production of high-end Lexus cars to Japan, according to the report.

TRUTH SOCIAL ENHANCEMENTS: Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT) has updated the Truth Social app to add new features and enhancements to the Truth Social platform. The update adds premium features on Truth Social for subscribers to the Patriot Package, the paid subscription service to the Truth+ streaming platform. The enhancements include: Edit truths; Server-side drafts; Schedule truths; Access for all Patriot Package subscribers to Truth gems, which are planned to comprise part of an updated rewards system that allows Truth Social and Truth+ users to use Crypto.com’s digital wallet infrastructure to convert gems, earned for participating in various activities across the platforms, into Cronos and other benefits.

The update will also include the following upgrades for all Truth Social users: Enhancement of the Truth Search AI function to incorporate conversation history; Group truth titles; Access to truths’ version history. Truth Social users who have autoupdate enabled on their Truth Social app settings will automatically receive the update. Users without autoupdate enabled can update the Truth Social app at the Apple or Google Play stores. Web users may need to refresh the Truth Social webpage to receive the update.