​​​​​​​WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that foreign firms must be allowed to bring international workers to help build US factories and train American workers, pushing back on criticism from his Republican base.

"If you have to bring people to get those plants opened, we want you to do that, and we want those people to teach our people how to make computer chips and how to make other things," Trump said at a US-Saudi investment forum attended by some of the highest-profile executives in tech and beyond.

"You can't come in, 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. They're going to have to bring thousands of people with them, and I'm going to welcome those people," he added.

Trump addressed criticism from his Make America Great Again (MAGA) base about the plans, but said, "I love MAGA, but this is MAGA," reiterating that foreign workers would train American counterparts.

"In a short period of time, our people are going to be doing great. And those people can go home where they probably always want to be," he said.

The comments come after more than 300 South Korean workers were detained in a raid at a Hyundai-LG Energy Solution battery plant construction site in the state of Georgia in September. Federal law enforcement officials touted the operation as the largest immigration raid in US history, claiming many workers who were detained entered illegally or overstayed their visas.

The workers were released a week later, but the incident sparked furor, with South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok warning that without resolving the matter, “meaningful progress" on future direct foreign investment "remains virtually impossible."

An agreement was brokered Oct. 1 to allow South Korean workers to "install, service, and repair" the equipment needed for investment plans on short-term business visas or the visa waiver program.

Trump referenced the row, saying the electric car batteries that are to be manufactured at the yet-to-be-completed Georgia facility "are very dangerous to make."

"They're complex, much more complex than people understand. And they brought in, they spent a billion dollars to build a factory, and they were told to get out. And I said, 'Stop it. Don't be stupid,'" Trump said. "We worked it out. And now they're teaching our people how to do it."