The United States and South Korea could reach a trade “understanding agreement” on trade next week, the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday, after talks between the two nations.
“We had a very successful bilateral meeting,” said Bessent to journalists at an oval office meeting between President Donald Trump and the Prime Minister of Norway. “We may evolve faster than I thought, and we will talk about technical terms from next week that we are reaching an agreement on understanding next week.”
Bessent did not explain what would be included in a so-called understanding agreement with Seoul. Dozens of nations have called on the Trump administration to relieve the higher rates that have been suspended by 90 days to give talks time.
The South Korean Minister of Finance, Choi Sang-Mok, said that the two parties aimed at an agreement in early July, before the end of the stay. The meeting “established the basic framework for new discussions by narrowing the scope of talks and forming a consensus on time,” said Choi to journalists in Washington after discussions with Bessent.
Trump puts pressure on to demonstrate the progress of his commercial program, investors and business leaders expressing their concern that the tumult unleashed by his pricing announcement of April 2 could plunge the global economy into a recession.
Choi and the Minister of Industry Ahn Duk-Geun met the representative of the trade in Bessent and the United States Jamieson Greer in Washington on Thursday. South Korea is among the First Nations to sit for face -to -face negotiations, after Japan meetings last week, and talks will be closely followed by other countries looking for a price.
Among the subjects on the table were naval construction and energy cooperation as well as non -pricing measures and FX policy, said Choi. The South Korean finance ministry will soon have talks at work with the Treasury Department to discuss currencies, he added.
South Korea, an ally of the United States, was slapped with an import tax of 25% between on board which was temporarily reduced to 10% for 90 days. As with other nations, South Korea also faces a 25% levy from car, steel and aluminum shipments.
It remains to be seen how far the temporary government of Seoul can carry out negotiations when the country is preparing to elect a new leader on June 3. The main opposition party, whose candidate, Lee Jae-Myung, directed in the polls, expressed his concerns that interim president Han Duck-Soo rushes to sign a case.
High issues meets arise while the markets were shaken by Trump's changing rhetoric on prices and the president of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell. The American president aroused the interest of concluding agreements with certain key business partners, but has not yet concluded any agreement.
Complete trade agreements are traditionally taking years to conclude, and the White House is likely to conclude transactions that are much more limited in the scope, or leave pivotal details to be paid before the deadline so that Trump's higher rates are recovered.
Trump recently declared “great progress” with Japan, although Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said his country would not continue to concede US requests to conclude an agreement. Japan also intends to reject On American efforts to organize trade partners in block against China, according to current and old Japanese officials.
Washington also boasts of “significant progress” with India following talks between vice-president JD Vance and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two parties finalized what he called a Reference conditions For negotiations on a new commercial pact, according to a declaration from the White House during the visit of the vice-president there.
Trump earlier this month said he had a “big call” with the South Korean acting president Han Duck-Soo, who included discussions on prices, naval construction and military support.
“In any event, we have the limits and the probability of many for the two countries. Their best team is on a plane heading to the United States, and things seem good,” said Trump on April 8 on social networks.
The Government of Seoul has examined several plans to present to the Trump administration while seeking to reduce its trade surplus with the United States, which jumped approximately 25% in 2024 from a year ago to 55.7 billion dollars.
South Korea's preliminary commercial data have suggested that American prices have already had an impact. Information on the customs office has shown that global exports in South Korea have dropped 5.2% compared to the previous year in the first 20 days of this month.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
