Trump tells South Korea to pay for its own military protection: ‘very unfair'
South Korea should be paying for its own military protection and suggested the US ally needed to pay more for the US troop presence there, a day after saying he planned to impose a 25 per cent tariff on its imports.
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'It's very unfair. We supply the militaries to many very successful countries,'
Trump told reporters at a meeting of his cabinet at the White House.
'South Korea is making a lot of money, and they're very good. They're very good, but you know, they should be paying for their own military.'
Trump said that he had got South Korea to agree to pay more for the presence of US forces during his first term, but his predecessor Joe Biden 'cancelled' the deal.
'I said to South Korea … you know, we give you free military, essentially, very little,' Trump said, adding that he had told them they should pay US$10 billion a year.
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'I got 3 [billion] with a phone call … but I said next year we have to talk,' he said, making claims Reuters has not verified.
Trump said the presence of US forces was a 'huge' economic benefit for countries that hosted them.
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