World trade
South Korea expects customs cleaning with USA until July
After initial negotiations in Washington, South Korea’s finance minister optimistically commented on a deal. To remedy the tariffs, Seoul has submitted a specific offer to the US government.
South Korea expects an agreement with the US government before the 90-day customs break. It is assumed that the two sides have agreed to put on a “July package” to aim to abolish the tariffs, South Korea’s finance minister Choi Sang Mok is quoted from the official news agency Yonhap. Together with Minister of Commerce Ahn Duk Geun, Choi had completed South Korea’s first trade talks in the customs dispute in Washington on Thursday (local time).
According to Yonhap, the South Korean government representatives have promised cooperation opportunities in the shipbuilding industry and investments in the United States during the negotiations.
In a first reaction, US Finance Minister Scott Bessent described the negotiations with South Korea as “very successful”. “We could get forward faster than I thought,” he said in front of reporters in the White House.
At the beginning of the month, US President Donald Trump decided to “reciprocal Zölle” in the amount of 25 percent against South Korea before announcing a 90-day suspension of the measures. In addition, the industry-specific tariffs against the auto and steel industry particularly meet the export-heavy economy of South Korea. In the first quarter, South Korea’s economic output has shrunk by 0.2 percent according to the preliminary data from the Central Bank in Seoul.
Report Yonhap (English)
dpa
Source: Stern
