▲ This captured image shows the front cover of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Minority Report released on March 10, 2026. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Senate Democrats-alliance

Senate Democrats say S. Korea-U.S. alliance is 'under strain' amid Trump's foreign policy

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Senate Democrats said in a new report Tuesday that the Trump administration's immigration raid on a South Korean plant last year and its pressure on the Asian country's legislature to approve Seoul's investment pledge have "deeply unsettled" the bilateral alliance.

The senators on the Foreign Relations Committee issued the report, titled "The Price of Retreat 2.0: Undermining America's Economic Edge and Alliance Advantage," which accused President Donald Trump's policies of having made the United States "weaker and more isolated," its economy "less dynamic," and everyday life "less affordable."

They pointed out that Trump's policies have taken a toll on the Seoul-Washington alliance.

"The U.S.-South Korea alliance is under strain as well. The Chinese have undoubtedly welcomed persistent rumors of U.S. troop reductions, while sending its largest aircraft carrier and building additional illegal aqua structures in the Yellow Sea," the report said.

"President Lee's adroit handling of an August visit to Washington helped stabilize the relationship but was followed just days later by the abrupt detention by U.S. immigration authorities of over 300 South Korean workers at a Hyundai battery plant in Georgia," it added.

The report was referring to a series of events that stoked tension in the Seoul-Washington relationship, including the detention of the Korean workers in September and lingering speculation that the Trump administration could seek a drawdown of U.S. troops in South Korea.

It said, "Combined with continuing pressure on the ROK legislature to approve a commitment of US$350 billion in investment in the United States through opaque and undefined bilateral mechanisms, these measures have deeply unsettled an alliance at the core of America's economic and security interests in the Indo-Pacific."

ROK is short for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.

Under a bilateral trade deal struck last year, South Korea committed to investing $350 billion in the U.S. in return for the U.S.' agreement to reduce the "reciprocal" tariff on the Asian country to 15 percent from 25 percent.

Despite the deal, Trump threatened in January to restore the reciprocal tariff on South Korea to 25 percent, citing a delay in South Korea's legislative procedure to support the investment pledge.

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