Trump says South Korea should be paying for its own defense
WASHINGTON--U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday South Korea should be paying for its own military protection and suggested the U.S. ally needed to pay more for the U.S. troop presence there, a day after saying he planned to impose a 25 percent tariff on its imports.
'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 at he had got South Korea to agree to pay more for the presence of U.S. forces during his first term, but his predecessor Joe Biden 'canceled' 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 $10 billion a year.
'I got three (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 U.S. forces was a 'huge' economic benefit for countries that hosted them.
'It's like having a city, it's tremendous money for them, and it's a tremendous loss for us ... so we're talking, in a very nice way, We're talking to them.'
South Korea hosts about 28,500 American troops as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War. It relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for protection against China, Russia and North Korea, and is seen as a key ally for projecting U.S. military power.
Shortly before last year's U.S. election, South Korea and the Biden administration hurried to sign a new, five-year agreement under which Seoul would raise its contribution toward the upkeep of U.S. troops by 8.3% to $1.47 billion in the first year, with later increases linked to the consumer price index.
During his election campaign Trump said South Korea should pay as much as $10 billion per year and has said such costs would be part of trade negotiations.
Trump in the past has suggested he could withdraw U.S. forces stationed overseas if countries did not pay more for their upkeep.
In May, the Pentagon said a Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. was considering withdrawing roughly 4,500 troops from South Korea was not true.
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By BRIAN SLODYSKO and WILL WEISSERT If one theme has emerged in President Donald Trump's second term, it's this: He's leveraged the power of his office for personal gain unlike anyone before in history. From crypto coins to bibles, overseas development deals to an upcoming line of cellphones, Trump family businesses have raked in hundreds of millions of dollars since his election, an unprecedented flood of often shadowy money from billionaires, foreign governments and cryptocurrency tycoons with interests before the federal government. 'He is president and is supposed to be working in the public's interest,' said James Thurber, an emeritus professor at American University, who has researched lobbying, campaign finance and political corruption for decades. 'Instead, he is helping his own personal interest to grow his wealth. It's totally not normal.' The sums amassed by the Trump Organization, the collection of companies controlled by the president's children, are far greater than those collected by the family during the president's first term, when patronage of his hotels, resorts and golf courses was de rigueur to curry favor with the famously transactional commander-in-chief. The second time around, the Trump family's ambitions are far grander, stretching from cyberspace to far-flung regions across the globe. One of Trump's cryptocurrencies is conservatively estimated to have pulled in at least $320 million since January, while another received a $2 billion investment from a foreign government wealth fund. A third has sold at least $550 million in tokens. His sons have jetted across the Middle East to line up new development deals, while his daughter and son-in-law are working with the Albanian government to build a Mediterranean island resort. 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But instead of placing his assets in a blind trust like many of his predecessors, he handed the reins of the Trump Organization to his children, which kept his financial holdings close. This time, he has made no such gesture. His sons, Eric and Donald Jr., are again running the business while Trump is in office. And though the White House says he is not involved in its day-to-day decisions, the trust he has established continues to profit. He promotes his resorts, merchandise and the family's crypto ventures while residing in the White House, often from his account on Truth Social, the social media company he and his allies launched. He's also touted a line of Trump shoes, a Bible, which is made in China, and Trump guitars, one of which is a $1,500 Gibson Les Paul knockoff, featuring 'Make America Great Again' fret inlays. Conservative groups and Republican committees have spent at least $25 million at Trump properties since 2015, with most of it coming from Trump's own political organization, campaign finance disclosures show. Yet, those ventures pale in comparison to his exploits in cryptocurrency, which offers perhaps the clearest example of the conflicts of interest that have come to dominate Trump's second term. Trump was once a crypto skeptic who declared that cryptocurrencies were 'not money,' were based on 'thin air' and seemed 'like a scam.' By the time he was running again for president, however, he'd become a proponent of the industry. 'The difference now is he has realized that it can be his scam,' said Hilary Allen, a law professor at American University who specializes in banking and cryptocurrencies. Trump has pledged to turn the U.S. into the 'crypto capital of the world' and promised to roll back oversight of the industry. Deregulation, of course, will help his own businesses. At the height of the campaign, Trump announced the launch of his own crypto coin and World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm that would be run by his sons and several business associates. Among those partners was Steve Witkoff, now one of Trump's top diplomatic envoys. The Trump Organization and World Liberty Financial declined to comment. But it was also rooted in his 2024 campaign. At a crypto event at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in May 2024, he received assurances that industry figures would spend lavishly to get him reelected, The Associated Press previously reported. Asked recently at the White House if he'd consider having his family business step back from its crypto investments to avoid questions about conflicts of interest, Trump said: 'We've created a very powerful industry. That's much more important than anything that we invest in." 'I don't care about investing. You know, I have kids and they invest in it, because they do believe in it," Trump added of crypto. "But I'm president, and what I did do there was build an industry that's very important. And, if we didn't have it, China would.' Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman, reiterated that Trump's crypto boosterism isn't driven by self-interest. He 'is taking decisive action to establish regulatory clarity for digital financial technology and to secure America's position as the world's leader in the digital asset economy,' Fields said. 'The Trump administration," Fields added, "is fulfilling the president's promise to make the United States the crypto capital of the planet by driving innovation and economic opportunity for all Americans.' Trump on Friday signed new cryptocurrency legislation that had been sought by the industry. Among the provisions is a ban on members of Congress issuing their own 'stablecoins,' a particular type of cryptocurrency. The prohibition does not extend to the president. Fields said it was unfair to equate critics' charges of conflicts of interest against Trump with the president's own suggestions that Biden's family benefited financially while he was in office. He said Trump's policies haven't benefited the president personally and have nothing to do with his family's financial concerns — and said Trump entered the White House an already successful businessman who didn't need a political career to become rich. Even so, Trump's family is poised to benefit financially from the crypto industry's growing clout. It holds a majority ownership stake that entitles them to 75% of earnings from their first coin, released last September, according to World Liberty Financial's website. The coin, $WLFI, was not an immediate success. Then, after the president's election, sales took off. 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'It's a lot like the Trump Hotel from the first term, but what crypto has done is dispensed with the need for the hotel,' said Allen, the law professor. 'Because crypto assets can be made out of thin air, he has found a way of creating an unlimited supply of assets to offer to people who want to give.' Associated Press writer Aaron Kessler contributed from Washington. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
