File photograph: US President Donald Trump gestures throughout a joint press convention in South Korea.
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U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday introduced that Washington had reached a “Full and Full” commerce take care of Seoul, setting blanket tariffs on the nation’s exports to U.S. at 15%.
This deal implies that duties will likely be lowered from the 25% that Trump had threatened in his “tariff letter” to Seoul earlier this month. Tariffs on the nation’s auto exports set at 25% can even be reduce to fifteen%.
Trump additionally mentioned in his publish on social media platform Fact Social that South Korea “will give to america $350 Billion {Dollars} for Investments owned and managed by america, and chosen on my own, as President.”
There seemed to be a distinction within the interpretation between Seoul and Washington on how that quantity could be utilized.
Saying in a publish on Fb that his nation had “concluded tariff negotiations” with america, South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung mentioned that the $350 billion fund “will play a job in facilitating the lively entry of Korean firms into the US market in industries the place we have now strengths, akin to shipbuilding, semiconductors, secondary batteries, biotechnology, and vitality,” based on a CNBC translation of his assertion in Korean.
He mentioned $150 billion of that allocation will likely be for “shipbuilding cooperation offering robust help for Korean firms getting into the US shipbuilding business,” including that “It is necessary to realize mutually helpful outcomes, not simply pursue unilateral good points.”
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick mentioned that “90% of the income” from that $350 billion funding will likely be “going to the American individuals.” That is much like what Trump introduced about Japan’s funding within the U.S. as a part of a commerce deal agreed earlier this month, which has been challenged by Tokyo.
Japan’s authorities mentioned Friday that income from a $550 billion funding agreed within the tariff take care of the U.S. could be divided between the 2 nations primarily based on their diploma of contributions, based on a Reuters report.
Trump on Wednesday additionally mentioned that as a part of the deal, Seoul will buy $100 billion {dollars} of LNG or different vitality merchandise from the U.S, including that Seoul had additionally agreed to take a position “a big sum of cash for his or her Funding functions.” The sum will likely be disclosed when Lee visits Washington for a bilateral summit throughout the subsequent two weeks, he added.
U.S. items is not going to be subjected to any tariffs, Trump mentioned. As of 2024, South Korea’s efficient tariff fee for items imported from the U.S. was about 0.79%. Seoul has a free commerce settlement with the U.S. since 2012.
Lee mentioned in his publish that “I hope that by way of this, industrial cooperation between Korea and US will likely be strengthened and the alliance between Korea and America can even be strengthened,” whereas including that Seoul will maintain “diplomacy centered on nationwide curiosity” as its high precept.
South Korea will “not be handled any worse than some other nation on semiconductors and prescription drugs. Metal, aluminum, and copper are usually not included and stay unchanged,” Lutnick mentioned. Metal, aluminum and copper exports to the U.S. throughout nations face 50% tariffs.
