Unionized workers at General Motors Co. plants in South Korea have expressed concerns over President Donald Trump’s mooted tariffs, worried they may lose their jobs if the factories they work at, which ship thousands of cars to the US, close or are impacted in some way.

Leaders of GM Korea’s labor union will depart the country on Saturday bound for Detroit where they plan to meet top GM officials, including, hopefully, GM International President Shilpan Amin, Ahn Kyu-baek, chairman of the local chapter of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, said.

Union leaders want to get more clarity around Trump’s trade policies and GM’s own plans for importing vehicles from its plants outside of the US, he said.

“Employees are anxious” about speculation GM may consider an exit from Korea if Trump imposes tariffs on cars manufactured abroad, Ahn said. “We want to know what management are going to do if tariffs are realized.”

Representatives for GM Korea declined to comment.

South Korean union representatives are also scheduled to meet with Shawn Fain, president of United Auto Workers. UAW said in a statement earlier this month that it’s in “active negotiations” with the Trump administration to end the “free trade disaster that has dropped like a bomb on the working class.”

Labor unions in Korea don’t want to clash with UAW, merely discuss the situation, Ahn said.

During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump floated tariffs of 10% to 20% on all imported goods and levies of 60% or higher on shipments from China. Last week, the administration delayed new tariffs on automobiles imported from Mexico and Canada for one month.

In February, GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said that if US tariffs become permanent, the automaker might have to consider moving some of its plants, but he said no decisions had been made. GM closed a manufacturing facility in Columbia in April 2024 and plans to shutter a facility in Ecuador.

GM Korea shipped almost 500,000 vehicles from its South Korean factories last year, the most since 2017 and accounting for around 8% of GM’s global sales. Around 80% of those vehicles were exported to the US as GM loses market share in South Korea to local incumbent Hyundai Motor Co.

GM started business in Korea in 2002 and now employs about 10,000 staff across three plants. Its smaller sized sport utility vehicle, the Chevrolet Trax, was the most popular exported model from the country last year, Korean trade ministry data show.

--With assistance from Tomoko Yamazaki.