South Korea will leverage shipbuilding capabilities and the potential to buy more U.S. LNG in upcoming talks on the tariffs next week, South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul said on Thursday.
The tariff on South Korea, which U.S. President Donald Trump announced on the so-called “liberation day” on April 2, was at 25%, lower than for some other Asian countries but much higher than a baseline 10% tariff. The so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs’ were suspended last week for 90 days, during which countries plan to plead their cases for tariff relief.
In South Korea’s case, LNG purchases and shipbuilding are set to be the focus of the talks expected next week.
“The projects President Donald Trump himself mentioned are shipbuilding and LNG,” Cho said, as quoted by Korean news agency Yonhap
“These are sectors that require countries like South Korea or Japan, so we have leverage in our own way,” South Korea’s top diplomat said.
Delegations from many Asian countries are heading to Washington D.C. these days to discuss the U.S. tariffs, now suspended for 90 days, which are the highest for economies in Asia and Southeast Asia.
Most Asian countries are racing to pledge increased imports of U.S. energy to avoid the high tariffs slapped on them in early April.
Thailand is looking to import higher volumes of American energy as a way to convince the U.S. Administration not to slap high tariffs on Thai goods sold in the United States.
Earlier this week, Indonesia, threatened with a 32% tariff, said it would offer to buy an additional $10 billion worth of American oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
South Asian nation Pakistan is actively considering the idea of importing U.S. crude oil for the first time to seek a reduction of its trade surplus with America.
South Korea is reportedly looking at more LNG imports to get Washington to drop the tariffs.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com