Where South Korea's tariff talks with U.S. lie

Korean trade officials are set to travel to Washington this week for talks on tariffs amid the U.S.' treasury chief putting pressure that tariffs will return to a higher level if countries don't reach agreements during the 90-day pause period.

Bae Eun-ji has more.

As South Korea seeks to reach a trade deal with the U.S. by early July, senior officials in Seoul are set to travel to Washington as early as Tuesday for talks on tariffs.

This comes after South Korea's finance and trade ministers met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in late April, and requested exemptions from higher levies.

U.S. President Donald Trump on April 2nd announced a set of reciprocal tariffs on major trading partners, including South Korea, before putting a temporary pause to those levies for 90 days.

He said on Friday that time is running out for countries to make trade deals with the United States.

"And we have, at the same time, 150 countries that want to make a deal but you're not able to see that many countries so at a certain point over the next two weeks I think Scott and Howard will be sending letters out, essentially telling people, we want to be very fair, but we'll be telling people what they'll be paying to do business in the United States."

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Bessent said in an interview with CNN on Sunday that Trump has put countries on notice that if they don't negotiate in "good faith," tariffs will soon return to the April 2nd levels.

Bessent also noted there are 18 important trading partners that the U.S. is most focused on solidifying deals with, while adding that there are a lot of smaller trading relationships.

As the deadline looms, he said Washington may impose some tariffs by region rather than on individual countries.

Addressing the concerns on tariff uncertainties, the Korean government earlier explained that this week's consultation will be focused on six key areas: balanced trade, non-tariff measures, economic security, digital trade, country of origin, and commercial considerations.

"So I think that connects to what I really think is the critical thing here, which is the economic security issue. So on that front, the White House would like to kind of get this big headline win on so-called friend-shoring semiconductor and battery supply chains. That is, the U.S. kind of wants to have these supply chains run through an allied country like Korea."

With only about 50 days left until the July 8th deadline, when the temporary pause on tariffs is lifted, eyes are now on whether South Korea will be able to make some meaningful progress in this week's talks.

Bae Eun-ji, Arirang News.