SEOUL: South Korea has asked Washington to exclude it from planned US levies on steel and metal, Seoul’s business department said Friday.
Since taking office in January, US President Donald Trump has announced a wide range of taxes on some of his nation’s biggest trading lovers, arguing that they will help combat unfair practices.
25 cent tariffs on steel and aluminum goods starting on March 12 are one of them.
He even warned this week that he would impose taxes “in the neighborhood of 25 %” on imported cars and a similar percentage or higher on electronics and medicine.
South Korea is home to the nation’s vital chipmakers, Samsung and Stat card, and was the fourth-largest producer of material to the United States last month.
Seoul claimed on Friday that Deputy Trade Minister Park Jong-won asked the US not to “include South Korea” in shared taxes and other tax methods, such as those imposed on steel and aluminum.
He emphasized the impact of South Korean companies ‘ large-scale investments on the US economy and noted that” all tariffs between the two nations have already been eliminated as a result of the Seoul-Washington free trade agreement.”
According to the government, the request was made during Park’s journey to Washington this week, during which he met with representatives from the White House and the US Department of Commerce, among people.
South Korea’s metal industry has recently experienced significant pressure from both a decline in global need and oversupply.
Experts warn that if cheap Chinese steel is barred from entering Southeast Asia and Europe, North Korean material producers will experience deepening price competition as a result of the US tariffs.
