President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his decision to continue welcoming foreign workers to the United States for tech manufacturing jobs and potentially stirred up more upset within his base by maintaining that American workers aren’t up to the task.
“You can’t come in and open up a massive computer chip factory for billions and billions of dollars, like is being done in Arizona, and think you’re going to hire people off an unemployment line to run it,” Trump said at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum, an event coinciding with the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “They’re going to have to bring thousands of people with them, and I’m going to welcome those people.”
The president’s comments come in the wake of heavy criticism from some MAGA commentators and voters about his support for the H-1B visa program, which allows foreign workers with specialized skills to take jobs in the United States. Granting foreign visas for tech jobs is one of several issues currently dividing Republicans, some of whom have argued Trump is not upholding his “America First” agenda. As wages have lagged and inflation has remained stubborn under Trump’s watch, prominent populist conservatives have said it’s a betrayal of American workers to offer high-skill jobs to immigrants.
But the hundreds of business executives in Trump’s audience included many tech leaders who have lobbied heavily to keep the visa program functioning. Among them was Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, which has begun producing its high-powered Blackwell chips in Arizona at a plant where many workers have immigrated from Taiwan. Trump addressed Huang directly when he took an even deeper swipe at the U.S. workforce: “I don’t think you can do that with people that don’t even know what a chip looks like.”
Since last month, Trump has warned that factories producing chips, batteries and other products may initially need to rely on foreign workers who have specialized skills in manufacturing those products. He has suggested that the foreign workers would only work in the roles temporarily and could train American workers in the process. However, there is not a clear path for workers to temporarily immigrate for these roles.
Aware of the blowback he has faced in recent weeks, Trump on Wednesday insisted his embrace of foreign workers was the path forward for expanding manufacturing in the U.S. — and that it would eventually benefit more American workers.
“I love my conservative friends, I love MAGA, but this is MAGA,” Trump insisted. “And those people are going to teach our people how to make computer chips. And in a short period of time, our people are going to be doing great.”
After clarifying that his supporters “love” him and that he loves them back, Trump said some of them are “way right” on the political spectrum, and acknowledged he may “take a little heat” from them for his position on immigrant workers.
“They’re unbelievable patriots, but they just don’t understand — our people have to be taught this,” Trump said of his supporters’ opposition to bringing in foreign workers. Trump was emphatic as he spoke.
“We’re not going to be successful if we don’t allow people that invest billions of dollars in plant and equipment to bring a lot of their people from their country to get that plant open, operating and working,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
“So my poll numbers just went down, but with smart people, they’ve gone way up.”
The dissonance with “America First” proponents has been brewing for months. During a recent interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who suggested the United States already has a sufficient number of skilled workers to staff these types of plants, Trump replied “No you don’t,” a remark that prompted uproar from some of his supporters.
Earlier this year, Trump angered his base after suggesting he would create a legal path to remain in the country for farmworkers and hospitality laborers, after hearing complaints from agriculture executives and those in the hotel and restaurant industry. Trump campaigned on a pledge of “mass deportations,” while promising to usher in a “golden age” of economic opportunity for Americans, including the working class.
Mark Mitchell, head pollster at the conservative Rasmussen Reports who said he visited the White House on Monday, in recent days has continued to speak out against Trump’s embrace of H-1B visas and warned that the administration should move away from the program.
“H1B is a toxic third rail, and should probably never be defended again,” Mitchell wrote on X.
A White House spokesman issued a statement Wednesday that did not address the question of whether the foreign visa program takes jobs away from Americans.
“American workers are the most talented and hardworking in the world. Right now, over one-in-ten young adults in America are neither employed, in higher education, or receiving vocational training,” said Kush Desai, White House spokesman. “President Trump is committed to working with industry leaders from across the world to help unleash this vast untapped potential of American hands and minds to usher in our next Golden Age.”
In September, hundreds of South Korean workers at a Georgia plant that manufactures batteries for electric vehicles were detained during an immigration raid and removed from the country. Referring to the raid at the Hyundai manufacturing site, which was carried out by Trump’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the president on Wednesday said he remarked afterward, “Stop it. Don’t be stupid.” Some of those South Korean workers recently returned to the plant.
As the Trump administration’s frequently changing tariffs snarl global supply chains, many companies have sought exemptions from the White House by making commitments to open large factories in the United States. Trump often touts these investments as a signal that his trade policies are working, even though some of the manufacturing plans predate his presidency.
In other instances, companies have announced plans to build facilities in the United States, but they haven’t opened yet. Trump says these facilities will create jobs for Americans, though companies often rely on foreign labor.
The administration now charges a large fee for people to apply for H-1B visas, a visa typically used for temporary, high skilled work. When asked about visas for factory workers last month, Trump said the administration is working on a plan. The White House did not answer a question Wednesday about whether that plan has been created.
At another point in his speech Wednesday, Trump, whom White House advisers have tried to get to focus more on talking about addressing Americans’ economic concerns, mentioned the “incredible strides” his administration has made to “make America affordable again.” But Trump also seemed to mock the word “affordability” — pronouncing it slowly as he described it as “a new word that they use.”
Noting how some food prices have dropped this year, Trump said only the prices of stocks have risen since he retook office.
“The only thing that we’re going up in is our stock market,” Trump said.
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