President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States would charge a 15% tariff on imports from South Korea, down 25% threatened, as part of an agreement that softens tensions with a business partner and a key Asian ally.
South Korea has also agreed to invest 350 billion dollars in the United States in projects selected by Trump and buy energy products worth $ 100 billion.
The arrangement, announced after Trump met Korean officials in the White House, occurred during a commercial policy blizzard. Many countries rush to conclude agreements before August 1, when Trump promised that higher prices come into play.
“I am happy to announce that the United States of America has accepted a complete and complete trade agreement with the Republic of Korea,” wrote Trump on Truth Social.
Negotiations were an early test for the South Korean president, Lee Jae Myung, who took office in June after an early election. He declared that the agreement eliminated uncertainty and fixed us lower prices than those at the same level as the main competitors.
“We have gone through a big obstacle,” said Lee in an article on Facebook. Trump said Lee would visit the White House “in the next two weeks” for his first meeting with the American president.
South Korea will accept American products, including cars and agricultural products on its markets and will not impose any import right for them, Trump added.
South Korea officials have said that the country’s rice and beef markets are not further and that discussions on US demands on food regulations are continuing.
Seoul seemed to have defended his non-pricing obstacles while keeping his rate of tariff tied with Japan and the European Union, said economist Citi Kim Jin-Wook.
“Although the titles figure looks like a huge victory for the United States, the details seem to be favorable to South Korea,” he said.
Devil in details
South Korea seems to have avoided the worst, agreed Cheong In-kyo, a former South Korean minister. But he also said that opinions on the agreement could change if the $ 350 billion had not been well spent.
It was not clear what the investment would imply, where the financing would come from, on transactions of delay delay and to what extent their conditions would be binding. Trump said additional South Korean investments would be announced later.
Of the total, $ 150 billion is aimed at a shipbuilding partnership, while $ 200 billion would include nuclear energy, batteries and biotechnology, said Kim Yong-Beom, head of the South Korean presidential office, told a briefing.
He said that “the ambiguity is good”, while adding that the negotiators had assured that there would be guarantees on how the funds were used.
The existing investment plans of South Korean companies would be part of the fund, according to another presidential official.
President Donald Trump sent letters to governments around the world on Monday, describing the prices he would impose on August 1. The beneficiaries include Japan, South Korea and South Africa. The Deadline of Canada on July 21 to conclude an agreement with the United States seems to remain.
The US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said in a position on X that 90% of the profits of the 350 billion dollars “went to the American people”.
Kim said that South Korea understands that this means that certain benefits could be reinvested.
Energy purchases would include liquefied natural gas, liquefied oil gas, crude oil and a small amount of coal, he added.
“It is in our usual import volume,” he said, noting that this could lead to a “slight change” in the country’s import mixture in the Middle East to more American sources.
Lutnick said energy purchases would occur “over the next 3.5 years”.
The rate of price on South Korean cars would also be 15%, said Lunick, which is down compared to the current rate of 25%. Lutnick also said that semiconductor and pharmaceutical exports would not be treated harder than those of other countries. Steel, aluminum and copper were not covered by New Deal.
Graze in South Korea
South Korea is one of the three countries of Asia-Pacific which had a complete free trade agreement with the United States, but that did not spare it new prices.
Negotiations took place in a turbulent political environment in South Korea with former President Yoon Suk Yeol kidnapped in April after being charged for trying to impose martial law. The pressure on negotiators increased after Japan won its agreement earlier this month.
South Korea has been a particular target of Trump for its trade surplus and the cost of maintaining 28,500 American soldiers in the country to defend itself against North Korea. Last year, South Korea posted a record surplus of 55.7 billion dollars with the United States, up 25% compared to the previous year.
The South Korean companies welcomed the agreement, saying that this would reduce uncertainty.
In the middle of the last -minute push to reach a price agreement, Samsung Electronics signed a chip of $ 16.5 billion with Tesla Tsla.o. LG Energy Solution 373220.KS also signed an agreement of $ 4.3 billion to provide Tesla with the batteries of the energy storage system, said a person familiar with the case.
