South Korea's Lee, Trump agree to work towards swift tariff deal
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, a liberal, was elected after former conservative leader Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached and ousted. (EPA Images pic)
SEOUL : US President Donald Trump and South Korea's new president Lee Jae-myung agreed to work toward a swift tariff deal in their first phone call since Lee was elected this week, Lee's office said on Friday.
Trump has imposed tariffs on South Korea, a long time ally with which it has a bilateral free trade deal, and pressed it to pay more for the 28,500 US troops stationed there.
Separately, Trump allies have aired concerns about Lee's more conciliatory stance towards China, Washington's main geopolitical rival.
Lee, a liberal, was elected on June 3 after former conservative leader, Yoon Suk Yeol, was impeached and ousted.
The future of South Korea's export-oriented economy may hinge on what kind of deal Lee can strike with Trump, with all of his country's key sectors from chips to autos and shipbuilding heavily exposed to global trade. His term began on Wednesday.
'The two presidents agreed to make an effort to reach a satisfactory agreement on tariff consultations as soon as possible that both countries can be satisfied with,' Lee's office said in a statement.
'To this end, they decided to encourage working-level negotiations to yield tangible results.'
Trump invited Lee to a summit in the US and they plan to meet soon, according to a White House official. Analysts say the first opportunity for the two to meet could be at a G7 summit in Canada in mid-June.
Lee's office said the two leaders also discussed the assassination attempts they both experienced last year as well as their enthusiasm for golf.
Lee underwent surgery after he was stabbed in the neck by a man in January last year, while Trump was wounded in the ear by a bullet fired by a would-be assassin in July.
South Korea, a major US ally and one of the first countries after Japan to engage with Washington on trade talks, agreed in late April to craft a 'July package' scrapping levies before the 90-day pause on Trump's reciprocal tariffs is lifted, but progress was disrupted by the change of governments in Seoul.
Lee said on the eve of the elections that 'the most pressing matter is trade negotiations with the US.' Lee's camp has said, however, that they intend to seek more time to negotiate on trade with Trump.
While reiterating the importance of the US-South Korea alliance, Lee has also expressed more conciliatory plans for ties with China and North Korea, singling out the importance of China as a major trading partner while indicating a reluctance to take a firm stance on security tensions in the Taiwan Strait.
Political analysts say that while Trump and Lee may share a desire to try to re-engage with North Korea, Lee's stance on China could cause friction with the US.
A White House official said this week that South Korea's election was fair, but expressed concern about Chinese interference in what analysts said may have been a cautionary message to Lee.
Speaking in Singapore last week, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said many countries were tempted by the idea of seeking economic cooperation with China and defense cooperation with the US, and warned that such entanglement complicated defense cooperation.
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