U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated on October 6 (local time) that he demanded South Korea pay a "price" in exchange for lowering tariffs.

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

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

President Trump also mentioned, "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 solely in the shipbuilding sector out of the $350 billion in investment to the U.S. agreed upon under the trade deal.

This is interpreted as a reminder that South Korea must fulfill its investment in the U.S. as the price for receiving lower rates under differentiated tariffs applied by country.

Regarding the remaining $200 billion in U.S. investments, the two countries have announced they are pursuing the construction of the Encinal gas-fired combined-cycle power plant in Texas, U.S., as their first project, while deciding to hold further discussions on the construction of eight large nuclear reactors and the Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.

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

President Trump's consecutive 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 Trump pinned down the investment in the LNG project, is one of the battleground areas for the midterm elections.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)