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South Korea “will not fight back” in opposition to US tariffs, its performing president has stated, citing the nation’s historic debt to Washington forward of commerce talks with Donald Trump’s administration set to start subsequent week.
Han Duck-soo, a technocrat serving as performing president following Yoon Suk Yeol’s removing from workplace this month by the nation’s constitutional court docket, stated “the role of the US was huge in making Korea what it is now”.
“After the devastation of the Korean war . . . the United States gave us aid, technology transfer, investments and security assurances,” which helped make South Korea “a very comfortable investment environment for foreigners”, Han instructed the Monetary Instances in an interview.
“Our industrial prowess and our financial development and our culture and growth and wealth are very heavily due to the help from the United States,” he added.
In gentle of this debt of gratitude, Seoul — one in all Washington’s closest safety allies and financial companions in Asia — would enter negotiations with Trump looking for to search out “solutions which are more win-win for both, rather than taking their actions as the objective against which we should fight back”, Han stated.
South Korean officers have been dismayed when Trump introduced a 25 per cent “reciprocal” tariff on the nation this month, regardless of a free commerce settlement below which South Korea in impact doesn’t levy tariffs on American items.
Korean automobile giants Hyundai and Kia have been additionally hit by a separate 25 per cent US levy on automakers, whereas the nation’s chipmakers and pharmaceutical firms are going through potential tariffs below a nationwide safety probe introduced by Washington this week.
South Korea’s main conglomerates are spending tens of billions of {dollars} to construct superior manufacturing crops for chips, electrical automobile batteries and photo voltaic panels.
However Seoul’s commerce surplus with the US has additionally risen sharply, reaching a file $55bn in 2024 after the US supplanted China as its largest export vacation spot.
Han, who stated he had a “good”, 28-minute telephone name with Trump earlier this month, stated South Korea was prepared to debate decreasing its commerce surplus, together with by buying US liquefied pure gasoline and industrial airliners. He added that elevated co-operation in naval shipbuilding “may help the US in strengthening their alliances”.
He additionally stated Seoul was prepared to debate South Korea’s non-tariff commerce boundaries. Amongst long-standing US grievances are Seoul’s auto emissions rules, opaque pharma pricing, refusal to import some American beef and community charges on US content material suppliers similar to Netflix.
Han conceded that some industries “may suffer some problems” on account of the negotiations, however stated a broader liberalisation of commerce between the 2 nations would “increase the welfare of the Korean people”.
The Trump administration additionally started commerce talks with Japan this week, because the White Home prioritises shut allies in an effort to safe some offers and start to roll again the president’s sweeping commerce conflict, which has roiled international markets.
Trump, who throughout his first time period threatened to drag US troops out of the Korean peninsula, stated this month that negotiations with Seoul would explicitly hyperlink commerce and safety points, together with “payment for the big time military protection we provide to South Korea” — a possible main concern for Seoul, which is determined by US safety from the North Korean nuclear menace.
Han confused there was not but any “clear framework” for discussing safety however signalled a willingness, “depending on the issues”, to reopen a cost-sharing deal concluded with the Biden administration final yr regarding the 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea.
Han, an unelected official who additionally serves as prime minister, bristled at questions regarding his authority to conduct negotiations that might reshape the US-South Korea relationship for years to come back.
Opposition events have raised issues {that a} deal negotiated by Han would bind the palms of his elected successor. South Korea is attributable to maintain a snap presidential election in early June to exchange Yoon, who was impeached and faraway from workplace over his failed try and impose martial regulation final yr.
Han strongly rejected the suggestion {that a} commerce deal he negotiated would lack democratic legitimacy, arguing that his mandate got here “from the constitution and relevant laws” and “there is no distinction between what acting presidents or elected presidents can do”.
Calls are additionally mounting amongst some South Korean conservatives for Han, a Yoon appointee who has by no means held elected workplace, to face for president himself. Supporters regard him as a supply of stability amid the disarray inside Yoon’s Individuals’s Energy social gathering following the martial regulation debacle.
However Han demurred on whether or not he would run for president, saying he had “not yet” decided. Pushed on whether or not he was contemplating a bid, he stated: “No comment.”
