South Korea’s new leader Lee Jae-myung and Donald Trump agreed in a phone call to work towards a tariff deal, Seoul said Friday, as a deadline approaches to avoid punishing US levies.
Lee won a thumping victory in South Korea’s election this week after months of political turmoil in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Seoul was hit in April with a 25 percent tariff by the United States, as part of Trump’s sweeping global duties, before the country-specific rates were put on hold for 90 days.
In a call between the two leaders Friday, they “agreed to work towards a mutually satisfactory agreement on bilateral tariff negotiations,” according to Lee’s office.
“To that end, they agreed to encourage working-level negotiations to yield tangible results,” a statement said.
South Korea’s central bank last month almost halved its annual growth forecast to 0.8 percent, down from the 1.5 percent projected in February.
The new leadership in Seoul will also have to contend with Trump’s decision to this week double tariffs on aluminium and steel imports to 50 percent.
During the phone call with Trump, Lee “emphasised the importance of the South Korea-US alliance as the foundation of the country’s diplomacy”.
“They praised each other’s leadership and affirmed their commitment to strengthening the alliance through close cooperation,” Lee’s office said.
Washington is Seoul’s long-time security ally and has around 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea.
The allies signed a new five-year agreement last year on sharing the cost of stationing US troops in South Korea, with Seoul agreeing to raise its contribution by 8.3 percent to 1.52 trillion won ($1.1 billion) for 2026.
Before returning to the White House in January, Trump said that Seoul would pay billions more annually if he won the presidential election.
