Trump Says He Told South Korea It Must Pay to Lower Tariffs

U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly emphasized on October 6 (local time) that he had demanded South Korea pay a "price" to lower tariffs.

Speaking at a defense shipyard in Sparrows Point, Baltimore, Maryland, President Trump said, "South Korea recently provided us with 150 billion dollars, and all of that money is going into the shipbuilding industry. That was a way for South Korea to lower the tariffs imposed on it."

He continued, "They want to lower the tariffs imposed on them, and I said, 'To do that, you have to pay a price.'"

President Trump also introduced, "The South Korean company Hanwha is investing billions of dollars to revive a historic shipyard in Philadelphia (Philly Shipyard), a very large and old shipyard."

President Trump's remarks refer to MASGA (Make American Shipbuilding Great Again), a South Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation project in which South Korea invests 150 billion dollars solely in the shipbuilding sector out of the 350 billion dollars in investment to the U.S. under the trade agreement between the two countries.

This is interpreted as a reiteration that South Korea must fulfill its investments in the U.S. in exchange for receiving lower tax rates among tariffs applied differentially by country.

Regarding the remaining 200 billion dollars in U.S. investment, the two countries have announced plans to pursue the construction project of the Encinal combined-cycle gas turbine power plant in Texas, U.S., as their first project, while deciding to hold future consultations on the construction project of eight large nuclear reactors and the Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.

However, taking South Korea's investment in the 50 billion-dollar Alaska LNG project as a given fact, President Trump said on October 2, "Tell them that if they don't reach an agreement soon, I will double the bill (for South Korea)."

President Trump's successive remarks regarding South Korea's investment in the U.S. are interpreted as an intention to promote the effectiveness of his tariff policy ahead of the midterm elections.

Alaska, where he pinned down the LNG project investment, is one of the battleground areas for the midterm elections.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.