South Korea and U.S. Set Auto Tariffs at 15 Percent

Car and Driver

31-07-2025

The United States and South Korea entered a trade deal late Wednesday night, President Trump announced on social media.
The agreement sees tariffs on imported South Korean goods, including cars, set at 15 percent.
That figure is higher than the taxes that had existed on Korean imports earlier this year, but lower than the 25 percent tariff that Trump had threatened if a deal wasn't reached by August 1.
Just days after reaching a trade deal with the European Union and around a week after doing the same with Japan, the United States has come to an agreement over tariffs with South Korea. President Donald Trump announced the deal on social media late on Wednesday.
The agreement will see South Korean imports to the United States slapped with a 15 percent tariff. While this is significantly higher than the tariffs that had existed earlier this year, it is lower than the 25 percent tariffs that Trump had threatened to implement on August 1 if a deal had not been reached.
The 15 percent tariff will also apply to imported Korean cars, down from the 25 percent tax that Trump had already applied to most imported vehicles. This new 15 percent rate matches the tariff that was set in the other recent trade deals for imported cars from Japan and the European Union, and the same rate will also apply to South Korean auto parts, according to Automotive News.
Marc Urbano
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Car and Driver
The tariffs will impact Korea-built cars such as the Hyundai Sonata.
This tariff will be applied to the majority of models from the Korean brands—Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis—as well as two popular subcompact crossovers from Chevrolet, the Trax and Trailblazer. Polestar has said it will begin importing the Polestar 4 from South Korea at some point this year.
The trade deal also includes a provision that South Korea will invest $350 billion in the United States, of which $150 billion will be committed to assisting South Korea companies in entering the American shipbuilding industry, South Korea's president, Lee Jae Myung, said, as reported by the . The remainder of the investments will target the semiconductor, technology, and energy industries.
South Korea will also buy $100 billion worth of liquefied natural gas from the United States. Existing tariffs on imported steel, aluminum, and copper will remain unchanged. Trump also said that South Korea will "accept American product including Cars and Trucks, Agriculture, etc.," although it's not entirely clear what this means just yet. Trump stated that President Lee Jae Myung will visit the White House within the next two weeks to iron out more of the details of the deal.
Caleb Miller
Associate News Editor
Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.