File Photo: US President Donald Trump pointers during a joint press conference in South Korea.
AFP contributor | AFP | Getty images
US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that Washington had reached the “full and full” trade deal with Seoul, installing the blanket tariff on the country’s exports at 15%.
The deal means that duties would be reduced by 25% that Trump threatened Seoul earlier this month in his “tariff letter”. Tariffs on the country’s auto exports at 25% will also cut up to 15%.
Trump also said in his post on social media platform Truth Social that South Korea “will give $ 350 billion to the United States for the United States ownership and controlled investment, and has been selected as President itself.”
The difference in interpretation between Seoul and Washington showed how that amount would be used.
Announcing in a post on Facebook that his country had “concluding tariff talks” with the United States, South Korean President Li J-Mung said that the $ 350 billion funds “would play a role in the facility of active entry of Korean companies in the US market in industries, such as shipbuilding, semicard, semikandar, semikandar, semikandar, semi-cum Semicander, SemicSter, Semicundaries, Semicundaries, Semicundaries, Semicundaries, Korean.
He said that the $ 150 billion of that allocation would be “for shipbuilding cooperation, which provides strong support for Korean companies to enter the US shipbuilding industry,” saying that “it is important that it is important to get a mutually beneficial results, not only one -sided profit.”
In CNBC’s comments following the deal announcement, Louis Lu, head of Asia’s economics at the Advisory firm Oxford Economics, said “the number” does not “add too much clearness – as with other Asian peers with deals ().”
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik said “$ 90% profit of $ 350 billion” will “invest $ 350 billion” to American people. ” This is the same as Trump announced Japan’s investment in the US earlier this month as part of a trade deal, which has been allegedly challenged by Tokyo.
The Japanese government said on Friday that the profit agreed with the US to invest $ 550 billion in the tariff deal with the US would be divided on the basis of their degree of contribution between the two countries, according to the report of a Reuters.
“Once the American trade deal with Japan was completed with Japan, Korean negotiaters had very few options, but to work hard to end their own business deal so that the American market is not deprived.”
While Seoul did not manage to achieve any concession on steel and semiconductors, he said that it successfully opposed us to call us to open its beef and rice markets, which Katler has described as “two highly sensitive areas”.
More investment
Trump also said on Wednesday that as part of the deal, Seoul would purchase $ 100 billion LNG or other energy products from the US, saying that Seoul had also agreed to invest “a large amount for his investment purposes”.
He said that when Lee visits Washington for the bilateral summit within the next two weeks, this amount will be revealed.
Trump said that American goods would not be subject to any tariff. By 2024, South Korea’s effective tariff rate for goods imported from America About 0.79%,
The ASPI’s Cutler stated that the new deal “denies the value of our bilateral FTA, where the US and Korea have abolished almost all their tariffs. As a FTA partner, Korea regrets that no special treatment has been received.” Seoul has signed a free trade agreement From 2012, us.
According to US government data, the US goods trade with South Korea was more than $ 197 billion in 2024, and its deficit with the country was $ 66.0 billion in 2024, 29.2% more than a year ago.
Lee said in his post that “I hope to strengthen industrial cooperation between Korea and the US through it and also strengthen the alliance between Korea and the US, while saying that Seoul will” centen “as” diplomacy “as” focused on national interest “.
South Korea will not be treated by “semiconductors and pharmaceuticals any worse than any other country. Steel, aluminum and copper are not included and remain unchanged,” Lutnik said. Steel, aluminum and copper exports in the US face 50% tariffs.
Luo of Oxford said that South Korea can be seen as a win for President Lee (J Mayung), locking a 15% tariff rate for auto like Japan. He warned that although tariffs on electronics and semiconductors could still increase.
South Korean benchmark Kopy The index was 0.5% above the announcement, while its benchmark yield was slightly higher on a 10 -year bond.
