Seoul seeks to improve tariff policy after Trump threat

The South Korean government promised on Tuesday to improve its tariff policy, after US President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to impose a 25% tariff on imports from South Korea.

South Korea's Industry Ministry has said it will "improve domestic systems and regulations, areas of particular interest to the United States in its efforts to reduce the trade deficit ."

“We will seize this opportunity to boost key industries through the industrial revitalization partnership between our two countries,” the ministry added in a statement.

Trump sent letters to 14 countries , including South Korea, Japan, South Africa, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Bangladesh, warning that exports to the United States will face additional tariffs of between 25% and 40% starting August 1.

Later at the White House, Trump said he was content to simply impose tariffs “for the most part,” but warned that negotiations were continuing, including talks with India that could end soon.

“We made a deal with the United Kingdom, we made a deal with China, we made a deal — we’re close to making a deal with India ,” Trump said. “Some of the others that we’ve met with, we don’t think we’re going to be able to make a deal. So we just sent them a letter.”

South Korea's industry ministry called Trump's letter "a de facto extension of the grace period for imposing reciprocal tariffs until August 1."

In April, the head of state had announced the suspension of the so-called “reciprocal tariffs”, which caused panic in the financial markets, and the negotiation of new trade pacts by July 9.

Trump signed an executive order on Monday that delays the application of the new tariffs until August 1 to all nations facing so-called “reciprocal” tariffs, effectively giving each affected country three more weeks to strike a deal with the White House.

“Maybe adjust a little bit, depending,” Trump said, indicating that he would welcome countries that continued to offer additional concessions. “ We’re not going to be unfair ,” he said.

South Korea's Industry Ministry has vowed to speed up negotiations aimed at reaching a mutually beneficial trade deal with Washington.

In the letter, cited by financial news agency Bloomberg, Trump also demanded that Seoul not adopt retaliatory tariffs, and threatened to add the value of these possible tariffs to the 25% already announced by the United States.

The US president described the country's trade deficits with its Asian allies as unsustainable and "grave threats" to US national security and the economy.

The United States is the second largest destination for South Korean exports, after China, accounting for 18.7% of international remittances, worth $127.8 billion (€108.85 billion) in 2024, according to Bloomberg.

On Sunday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the pressure being exerted by the White House would help “ reach many agreements quickly .”

The European Union (EU) reported on Monday that the day before, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had had a “positive” telephone conversation with Donald Trump.

Indonesia, another of the addresses targeted by Trump's letters, has announced that it will import at least one million tons of US wheat per year for the next five years, worth $1.25 billion.