President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States and South Korea will “work something out” following his surprise announcement Monday to raise tariffs on imports from the Asian ally to 25 per cent. Trump offered no further details as he left the White House to give a speech in Iowa.
Trump’s chief trade negotiator, Jamieson Greer, told Fox Business Network on Tuesday that he had already spoken with South Korean officials and would meet their trade representatives in Washington later this week.
“I think that they are getting the message,” Greer said. “We have nothing in particular against Korea. They’re an ally. But when it comes to the economics of all of this, it has to be balanced.”
Greer cited the ballooning U.S. trade deficit with South Korea, which reached US$65 billion during the previous Biden administration. “That’s not sustainable and it has to change,” he said.
On Monday, Trump said via social media that the tariff hike on South Korean autos and other goods was due to Seoul’s failure to fulfill its part of a deal reached with the U.S. last year. The announcement took officials in Seoul by surprise, leaving the export-dependent country scrambling to respond.
Greer noted that the U.S. had temporarily reduced the planned tariff from 25 per cent to 15 per cent in exchange for South Korea’s commitment to invest US$350 billion in the United States, increase U.S. auto access to the South Korean market, and remove certain non-tariff barriers on agriculture.
“But, in the meantime, they haven’t been able to get a bill through to implement the investment,” Greer said. He added that Seoul had also lagged on commitments in agriculture and industry, making it “hard to continue to hold up our end of the bargain.”
South Korea’s parliament is not expected to hold a plenary session until February, when five bills enabling the U.S. investment are pending a vote. Ruling party lawmakers remain hopeful of passing them that month.
Earlier this month, Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol acknowledged plans to implement the investment package but warned that uncertainty over an expected U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Trump-era tariffs, combined with the won’s weakness, could delay the US$350 billion rollout beyond the first half of 2026.
