Detroit and Korea’s $28 Billion Battery Bets Risk Going Sideways

Weeks of tense bargaining around Detroit are making battery manufacturers some 6,600 miles (10,600 kilometers) away nervous.

LG Energy Solution Ltd., SK On Co. and Samsung SDI Co. have planned about $28 billion of investment along with General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV in US electric-vehicle battery factories they’ll run as joint ventures. Those plants are major sticking points in contract negotiations between the three automakers and the United Auto Workers, which wants to unionize the 19,600 people the companies plan to hire.

While South Korea’s three biggest battery suppliers have kept a low profile during a more than ...