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South Korea “will not fight back” against US tariffs, its acting president has said, citing the country’s historical debt to Washington ahead of trade talks with Donald Trump’s administration set to begin next week.
Han Duck-soo, a technocrat serving as acting president following Yoon Suk Yeol’s removal from office this month by the country’s constitutional court, said “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 told the Financial Times 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 light of this debt of gratitude, Seoul — one of Washington’s closest security allies and economic partners in Asia — would enter negotiations with Trump seeking to find “solutions which are more win-win for both, rather than taking their actions as the objective against which we should fight back”, Han said.
South Korean officials were dismayed when Trump announced a 25 per cent “reciprocal” tariff on the country this month, despite a free trade agreement under which South Korea in effect does not levy tariffs on American goods.
Korean car giants Hyundai and Kia were also hit by a separate 25 per cent US levy on automakers, while the country’s chipmakers and pharmaceutical companies are facing potential tariffs under a national security probe announced by Washington this week.
South Korea’s leading conglomerates are spending tens of billions of dollars to build advanced manufacturing plants for chips, electric vehicle batteries and solar panels.
But Seoul’s trade surplus with the US has also risen sharply, reaching a record $55bn in 2024 after the US supplanted China as its largest export destination.
Han, who said he had a “good”, 28-minute phone call with Trump earlier this month, said South Korea was willing to discuss reducing its trade surplus, including by purchasing US liquefied natural gas and commercial airliners. He added that increased co-operation in naval shipbuilding “may help the US in strengthening their alliances”.
He also said Seoul was willing to discuss South Korea’s non-tariff trade barriers. Among long-standing US grievances are Seoul’s auto emissions regulations, opaque pharma pricing, refusal to import some American beef and network fees on US content providers such as Netflix.
Han conceded that some industries “may suffer some problems” as a result of the negotiations, but said a broader liberalisation of trade between the two countries would “increase the welfare of the Korean people”.
The Trump administration also began trade talks with Japan this week, as the White House prioritises close allies in an effort to secure some deals and begin to roll back the president’s sweeping trade war, which has roiled global markets.
Trump, who during his first term threatened to pull US troops out of the Korean peninsula, said this month that negotiations with Seoul would explicitly link trade and security issues, including “payment for the big time military protection we provide to South Korea” — a potential major concern for Seoul, which depends on US protection from the North Korean nuclear threat.
Han stressed there was not yet any “clear framework” for discussing security but signalled a willingness, “depending on the issues”, to reopen a cost-sharing deal concluded with the Biden administration last year concerning the 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea.
Han, an unelected official who also serves as prime minister, bristled at questions concerning his authority to conduct negotiations that could reshape the US-South Korea relationship for years to come.
Opposition parties have raised concerns that a deal negotiated by Han would bind the hands of his elected successor. South Korea is due to hold a snap presidential election in early June to replace Yoon, who was impeached and removed from office over his failed attempt to impose martial law last year.
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Han strongly rejected the suggestion that a trade deal he negotiated would lack democratic legitimacy, arguing that his mandate came “from the constitution and relevant laws” and “there is no distinction between what acting presidents or elected presidents can do”.
Calls are also mounting among some South Korean conservatives for Han, a Yoon appointee who has never held elected office, to stand for president himself. Supporters regard him as a source of stability amid the disarray within Yoon’s People’s Power party following the martial law debacle.
But Han demurred on whether he would run for president, saying he had “not yet” made a decision. Pushed on whether he was considering a bid, he said: “No comment.”
