President Trump threatened to increase tariffs on South Korean exports because the country had not ratified a trade deal with the United States quickly enough.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump faulted Korea’s National Assembly for not approving a trade deal that he had reached with the president of South Korea on July 30.
“Because the Korean Legislature hasn’t enacted our Historic Trade Agreement, which is their prerogative, I am hereby increasing South Korean TARIFFS on Autos, Lumber, Pharma, and all other Reciprocal TARIFFS, from 15% to 25%,” the president said.
As of Monday evening, the White House had not yet issued an executive order to put the change in tariffs into effect.
The president imposed a 25 percent tariff on all South Korean exports last year. He then agreed to lower that to 15 percent in a framework trade deal he announced with President Lee Jae Myung in July. But the two governments continued to spar over the details of the agreement, including a commitment by South Korea to invest in the United States. While the United States wanted a cash investment of hundreds of billions of dollars, Korean officials were concerned that a deal of that size was not economically possible.
The Korean government confirmed in October that it had reached an agreement with the United States on the details of the deal, following Mr. Trump’s visit to the country that month. As part of the deal, it said it had agreed to invest up to $20 billion a year, while setting aside another $150 billion to invest in American shipbuilding operations.
To implement the trade deal, South Korea was required to pass the bill through its National Assembly.
The Trump administration has announced limited trade deals with more than 10 countries, though some of those deals have fallen into trouble. A trade framework negotiated with the European Union, for example, was put on pause recently after Mr. Trump threatened European nations with tariffs unless they gave the United States the Danish territory of Greenland. Although Mr. Trump later stepped back from that tariff threat, the trade agreement still requires the approval of the European Parliament.
The legal authority that Mr. Trump has relied on to impose tariffs on South Korea and other nations, a 1970s emergency law known as the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, is currently under review at the Supreme Court.
The court is expected to issue a decision in the coming months about whether Mr. Trump exceeded his authority in using that act to impose tariffs globally. If it rules that he has acted illegally, the president may have to rely on other tariff laws that do not allow him to raise and lower tariffs so suddenly.
Ana Swanson covers trade and international economics for The Times and is based in Washington. She has been a journalist for more than a decade.
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