김승연
| 2026-01-29 13:56:55
FM-US tariffs
Trump's tariff hike warning for S. Korea not a breakdown of trade deal: FM Cho
By Kim Seung-yeon
SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Trump's warning of a tariff hike for South Korea should not be seen as a breakdown of the trade deal reached between the allies but as part of the process to implement it, Seoul's top diplomat said Thursday.
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun made the remarks during a panel discussion with local press, as Trump's social media post threatening to raise the reciprocal tariff on South Korean goods to 25 percent from 15 percent has rattled Seoul.
Trump cited the slow progress in South Korea's legislative procedures required to carry out its investment package in the United States. He said later his administration will "work something out" with Seoul, indicating the potential hike was not imminent.
"It's difficult to see this as a breakdown of the deal, and I believe it will work out if we take measures and fully explain it to the U.S. side," Cho said at the session hosted by Kwanhun Club, a senior journalists' association.
He was responding to a question about whether a tariff hike would amount to a breakdown of the trade deal with Washington should Trump go on to raise the duties.
"It would be better to look at this process not as a renegotiation, but consultations to faithfully implement the existing fact sheet," he said, referring to the joint summit document on trade and security commitments, produced last year after the two summits between Trump and President Lee Jae Myung.
Under the deal, South Korea committed to investing US$350 billion in the U.S., including $200 billion in cash installments with an annual cap of $20 billion, in exchange for the lowering of the tariff rate.
Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol has said the implementation may not begin in the first half of this year, given the depreciation trend of the Korean won currency.
Asked if Seoul had noticed any signs from Washington about adjusting the tariff rate, Cho took note of the change in the way that the U.S. delivers its messages to the world.
"We should get used to President Trump's abrupt social media announcements," he said. "(Given) the change in the U.S. decision-making structure and its system of making announcements, it was not something that we were able to detect," he said.
Cho downplayed the persisting speculation that dialogue with North Korea, if resumed, could shift to recognizing Pyongyang as a nuclear-armed state and negotiating arms control rather than denuclearization.
"To put it bluntly, disarmament or nuclear disarmament negotiations, these are just a wordplay," he said.
"South Korea and the U.S. are fully aligned in our positions that bringing up denuclearization from the outset would not work out, so we need more calibrated language to get North Korea to return to the negotiating table," Cho said.
"It's the same principle. The goal is, by all means, denuclearization," he added.
On South Korea's possible accession to the Japan-led multilateral trade pact, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, Cho voiced the need to join the grouping despite difficulties that may be faced by the agriculture and fisheries industries.
"We need (to join) given the rapidly changing economic landscape," he said. "Britain and Vietnam have joined. I don't see what we should be afraid of. If we think of it from a more forward-looking perspective, it could open up new markets."
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