South Korea minister asks for exemption from US tariffs at Greer meeting

Jihoon Lee

Fri, May 16, 2025, 2:03 AM 2 min read

By Jihoon Lee

SEOGWIPO, South Korea (Reuters) -South Korea's curate of commercialized and manufacture Ahn Deuk-geun said connected Friday that helium met U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and asked again for a waiver from Washington's tariff measures.

Ahn besides said the South Korean delegation would sojourn the United States adjacent week for method talks arsenic portion of tariff negotiations, which are owed to absorption connected balanced commercialized and non-tariff barriers among different issues.

The bilateral gathering betwixt Ahn and Greer was held connected the sidelines of a two-day gathering of commercialized ministers from 21 subordinate economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) grouping successful South Korea's edifice land of Jeju.

It was the 2nd senior-level commercialized talks betwixt South Korea and the United Sates, aft the opening circular of negotiations held successful precocious April jointly with past South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, wherever they agreed to trade a commercialized bundle by July.

The bundle is expected to encompass 4 main areas: tariffs and non-tariff measures, economical security, concern cooperation, and currency policy. While touting practice successful shipbuilding arsenic an important paper for negotiations, South Korea has denied that defence costs for immoderate 28,500 U.S. troops stationed successful the state volition beryllium included.

Just a week aft the April meeting, however, South Korea's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who had been starring negotiations, resigned, followed by Choi stepping down, raising questions implicit the advancement successful commercialized talks.

Currently, South Korea's interim person is the acquisition curate until a caller president is elected connected June 3.

After U.S. President Donald Trump slapped 25% tariffs connected South Korea successful April, Seoul was 1 of the archetypal countries to clasp face-to-face talks with Washington, soon aft Japan.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, however, successful an interrogation with Bloomberg News past week that commercialized deals with the 2 Asian allies would not beryllium "fast deals".

"Washington is prepared to determination guardant successful the interim talks, fixed the scope of interests that could beryllium addressed successful a imaginable negotiated agreement," said Jay Truesdale, a erstwhile U.S. diplomat and CEO of TD International, a hazard quality firm.

"The braking mechanics mightiness beryllium much connected the South Korean side, fixed pre-election jockeying and the request for consultation betwixt Korean concern and governmental stakeholders," Truesdale said, noting Trump's tendency for speedy wins reflected successful caller commercialized talks with Britain and China.