Europe Asia News

In a post published Wednesday on Truth Social, Trump said: “The deal includes South Korea paying the U.S. $350 billion for investments owned and controlled by America, and selected by me as President.”

In April, a brief “reciprocal” 25% tariff was applied to South Korean goods before Trump suspended tariffs affecting dozens of countries. He had set August 1 as the deadline for reaching tariff agreements.

However, the new 15% tariff remains higher than the 10% minimum tariff applied since April on goods from South Korea and many other nations.

South Korea is the seventh-largest source of U.S. imports. According to the Department of Commerce, it exported $132 billion worth of goods to the U.S. last year, including automobiles, auto parts, semiconductors, and electronics.

Meanwhile, the U.S. exported $66 billion worth of goods to South Korea last year. The top export categories were oil and gas, along with industrial machinery.

The U.S. and South Korea have signed numerous free trade agreements over the past two decades, many of which were renegotiated — including during Trump’s first term.