President Donald Trump’s announcement that he will reinstate 25 per cent tariffs on South Korea is less indicative of a sudden rupture in relations but more an attempt to reassert leverage over an ally ahead of a critical US Supreme Court ruling, analysts say.
Trump has accused South Korea of failing to follow through on a bilateral trade deal, reviving trade tensions between two close allies and prompting Seoul to seek urgent talks with Washington.
The timing also reflected Trump’s mounting frustration over delays in implementing South Korea’s politically sensitive investment pledges underpinning the agreement amid legal uncertainty over the future of his global tariffs.
In a social media post on Monday, Trump announced he was increasing the tariffs from 15 per cent to 25 per cent because South Korea was “not living up to” an agreement reached last year.
“South Korea’s Legislature is not living up to its Deal with the United States,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
He said that he and President Lee Jae Myung reached a “Great Deal” for both countries on July 30 last year and reaffirmed these terms three months later while he was in South Korea for the Apec summit.
US President Donald Trump (left) and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung are seen on a screen at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Tuesday. Photo: AP