After the first round of trade talks in Washington on Thursday, Seoul’s delegation said that South Korea and the US had agreed to work towards a package of deals aimed at removing a 25 per cent tariff that Washington had threatened to impose on Seoul. South Korea is already subject to a baseline 10 per cent tariff like other US’ trade partners.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said both countries had a “very successful” meeting. “We may be moving faster than I thought, and we will be talking technical terms as early as next week,” he told reporters.
Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok and Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun during the talks.
While no details on potential areas of agreement were mentioned by either side, Seoul said in a statement that it had requested exemptions from US tariffs – including for specific items – and offered cooperation on shipbuilding and energy as well as addressing the bilateral trade imbalance.
