South Korea’s new Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo (Yonhap) South Korea will expedite the ongoing trade negotiations with the United States with the new government in place, the new trade minister said Thursday, as Seoul has less than a month to make a deal with Washington before the temporary pause of US reciprocal tariffs ends.
“As the country now has a new government that has democratic legitimacy and a clear mandate, we will expedite the ‘shuttle negotiations’ with the US at a trade minister’s level,” Yeo Han-koo, South Korea’s new trade minister, said in his inauguration address.
“Through this process, the government will create a new structural framework for mutually beneficial Korea-US cooperation in industry, trade and investment over the next five years.”
Yeo added he will work to achieve a “pragmatic” and “national interest-oriented” outcome in trade talks with the US with an aim to expand cooperation between the two countries in advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence and digital, boost the global competitiveness of Korean industries and foster new growth engines for the economy.
The trade ministry will first establish an all-out response system for trade negotiations with the US, expanding the existing task force on the matter to comprehensively cover trade, industry and energy issues, he explained.
“In addition, the chief of the working-level representatives on our side will be elevated from the current director level to the first-class senior level,” he noted.
“As much as South Korea needs the United States, the United States also needs Korea.”
South Korea has been engaging in trade negotiations with the US on tariffs, non-tariff measures and other issues, with the two sides having agreed to craft a package deal by July 8 — when US President Donald Trump’s administration’s suspension of “reciprocal” tariffs will end.
The Trump administration slapped South Korea with 25 percent reciprocal tariffs in early April, raising issues with Seoul’s big trade surplus with Washington and non-tariff barriers, such as an import ban on American beef from cattle aged 30 months or older and restrictions on the overseas transfer of the country’s high-precision map data.
Yeo was one of the first senior government officials to be appointed by President Lee Jae-myung, who took office last week, reflecting the urgency of South Korea’s tariff negotiations with the US, which has huge influence on the country’s export-dependent economy.
The 56-year-old is a seasoned bureaucrat with trade expertise, who previously served as trade minister under the former Moon Jae-in administration.
At the time, he took part in Seoul’s renegotiation of its bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with Washington.
The Korea-US FTA, initially implemented early 2012, was renegotiated in 2018 at the request of the US under Trump’s first term.
From 2023, Yeo has served as a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.(Yonhap)