Trump reaches trade agreement with South Korea
Seoul – President Trump said on Wednesday that the United States has made a trade agreement with South Korea and will now face 15% tariff in exports.
According to the agreement, South Korea will invest 350 billion dollars in key US industries and buy 100 billion dollars of liquefied natural gas, Trump wrote on Wednesday on social media. Authorized, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’un visiting Washington in the next two weeks will be announced more investments, he added.
The new ratio is a significant decrease in Trump’s 25% announced in a letter at the beginning of this month, but still a blow to the free trade regime, which has been going on for a long time, which has been close to zero, which has been close to zero for years. Trump, last year with a trade deficit of 66 billion dollars with South Korea, this regulation was unfair to the United States.
Kim Yong-Beom, the senior policy official of the South Korean Presidential Office, said at a press conference on Thursday, “We see that the negotiations in many countries have emerged in a very different way from the DTO or FTA principles.” “Sad.”
Kim, South Korean negotiators, the country’s most important exports to the United States pushed for a rate of 12.5% of cars, but Trump’s company “everyone has 15%” stance, he said.
The US and South Korean officials seem to be interpreting the agreement, whose details are still insufficient, in different ways.
In a car carrier trailer, new cars for export, on April 15, 2025, South Korea’s Pyeongtaek has a harbor.
(Lee Jin-Man / Associated Press)
The Trade Secretary Howard Lutnick, called a “historical trade agreement ,, wrote that on social media, South Korea’s $ 350 billion investment“ 90% of the profit of the “profit” will go to a claim that immediately lifted its eyebrows in South Korea.
Trump said something similar to the $ 550 billion investment package included in the trade agreement with Japan at the beginning of this month. On the other hand, the Japanese authorities said that profit would be divided in proportion to the amount of contribution and risk from both sides.
At a press conference, Kim said that Seoul was working under the assumption that 90% of the profit is not unilaterally claimed. Authorized, certain terms should still be organized “per project”, he added.
“In a normal civilized country, who can accept us to deposit the money while the US receives 90% of the profit?” he asked.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, an investment of $ 350 billion, South Korea, trying to enter the US markets as a support to South Korean shipbuilding, semiconductor and energy companies.
On Thursday, a social media broadcast, “This agreement is the meeting of the interest of the US production and the intention of making South Korean companies more competitive in the US market,” he said. “I hope it will strengthen the industrial cooperation between South Korea and the US and our military alliance.”
“South Korea will be completely open to trade with the United States, and they will accept American products, including cars and trucks, agriculture, etc.
South Korea, the world’s best American beef importer, can bring beef, cattle spongy encephalopathy or crazy cow disease from cattle, which are currently older than 30 months older.
Considering a critical source of staple crops and farmers’ livelihoods, the rice is one of the several agricultural goods that are heavily protected by the South Korean government. Seoul is currently applying a tariff of 513% for the US rice up to 132,304 tons and 513% for any surplus.
Who has successfully defended most of our positions in these areas, ”he said.
