South Korea’s Brand-New Leader Talks Tariffs in Trump Call
SEOUL– South Korea’s brand-new leader Lee Jae-myung and Donald Trump agreed in a phone call to work toward a tariff deal, Seoul stated Friday, as a deadline approaches to avoid punishing United States levies. Lee won a thumping victory in South Korea’s election this week after months of political turmoil in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Seoul was struck in April with a 25-percent tariff by the United States, as part of Trump’s sweeping global duties, before the country-specific rates were postponed for 90 days. In a call between the two leaders on Friday, they ‘agreed to work toward an equally satisfying contract on bilateral tariff settlements,’ according to Lee’s office. ‘To that end, they agreed to encourage working-level negotiations to yield concrete results,’ a declaration said. South Korea’s central bank last month almost halved its annual growth forecast to 0.8 percent, below the 1.5 percent predicted in February. The new leadership in Seoul will also need to contend with Trump’s decision this week to double tariffs on aluminum and steel imports to 50 percent. During the call with Trump, Lee ’emphasized the importance of the South Korea-US alliance as the foundation of the country’s diplomacy.’ ‘They applauded each other’s leadership and confirmed their commitment to enhancing the alliance through close cooperation,’ Lee’s office said. Washington is Seoul’s longtime security ally and has around 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea. The allies signed a new five-year agreement in 2015 on sharing the cost of stationing US soldiers in South Korea, with Seoul agreeing to raise its contribution by 8.3 percent to 1.52 trillion won ($1.1 billion) for 2026. Before returning to the White House in January, Trump stated that Seoul would pay billions more each year if he won the presidential election.
