Seoul's ongoing trade talks with Washington now encompass agricultural items, a high-ranking official of the presidential office said Friday amid growing speculations over what concessions Korea could make to reduce tariff threats on most goods exported to the US.
“Talks between Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and his counterpart, US Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer, are now underway, and agricultural products are included in the list of items that are now being negotiated,” Kim Yong-beom, director of national policy at the presidential office, told reporters in a briefing Friday. Kim did not elaborate on which of the two countries' agricultural goods could be affected.
Before Friday, South Korea's presidential office had not clarified whether its deal package would include the agricultural sector. When asked if a negotiation involving the agricultural sector would take place alongside tariff talks between South Korea and the US, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung on Wednesday declined to answer the question, instead saying Seoul was "making its utmost effort to pursue national interest and find the best idea regarding tariff talks."
This comes as Kim announced that President Lee Jae Myung's aides and senior government officials had discussed countermeasures over the outcome of Seoul's ongoing talks with Washington.
Lee's aide Kim said the two countries "reaffirmed the importance of mutual cooperation in strategic manufacturing sectors, including shipbuilding and semiconductors, and decided to specify future cooperation measures," adding that Seoul "strongly requested" that Washington ease tariffs on individual items such as automobiles.
Kim, however, added that he did not know whether a deal could be struck before the Aug. 1 deadline for the US "reciprocal" tariffs, but said that Seoul still considered that the deadline for making a deal.
On Thursday, Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan, Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and their respective counterparts, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Greer of the USTR, held an 80-minute meeting to discuss tariff issues.
The talks followed US President Donald Trump's announcement Tuesday that the US had reached a deal with Japan. The reciprocal tariffs on Japanese goods including cars, were reduced to 15 percent in return for Japan's $550 billion commitment to invest in the US.
According to Kim, a follow-up negotiation between Industry Minister Kim and Lutnick will take place in the US on Friday, and Seoul will discuss countermeasures again Saturday.
consnow@heraldcorp.com
