S Korea says no official notice on Trump's tariff hike plan, trade minister to visit US

SEOUL - South Korea's presidential office said Tuesday that it has received no official notification from Washington after US President Donald Trump announced a plan to raise tariffs on certain South Korean goods from 15 percent to 25 percent.

The office added that an interagency meeting will be held later in the day. Minister of trade, industry and resources Kim Jung-kwan, who is currently on an official visit to Canada, also plans to travel to the United States soon to discuss the issue with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Trump said Monday he will raise tariffs on certain South Korean goods from 15 percent to 25 percent, accusing South Korea's legislature of not having enacted a bilateral trade agreement with the United States.

Yonhap News Agency reported that under a joint fact sheet released after a South Korea-US summit held in Gyeongju last October, the United States agreed to lower tariffs on South Korean products, including automobiles, in exchange for South Korea making 350 billion US dollars in investments in the United States. The two sides later signed a joint memorandum on Nov. 14, stipulating that tariff cuts would be applied retroactively from the first day of the month in which relevant legislation was submitted to the South Korean parliament to implement the agreement.

South Korea's ruling Democratic Party submitted a special bill on US investment to the National Assembly on Nov. 26, and the United States subsequently retroactively lowered tariffs on South Korean automobiles to 15 percent on Dec. 4.