Latest news with #Kim Yong-beom
Reuters
5 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
South Korea delays decision on Google's request for map data exports
SEOUL, Aug 8 (Reuters) - South Korea delayed a decision on Friday on Google's request for permission to export map data, following U.S. pressure to address what Washington regards as a non-tariff barrier during recent trade talks, its transport ministry said. The move comes as South Korea and the United States are preparing for a summit of their leaders, possibly this month, after reaching a trade deal in late July. South Korea previously rejected a request from Google, whose parent is Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab, for permission to use map data on servers outside the country in 2016 and 2007, citing security concerns. South Korea, whose 1950-53 war with North Korea ended without a peace treaty, argues that if it allowed such data to leave the country, the locations of military facilities and other sensitive sites could be revealed. But the U.S. said restrictions on cross-border data flows have long served as a barrier to operating navigation services through Google Maps and Apple Maps, resulting in U.S. companies losing out in the South Korean market. South Korea did not make concessions on the map issue and also on further opening up agriculture despite early and intense bilateral talks, presidential adviser Kim Yong-beom had said. It was not clear whether the issues will be discussed at the upcoming summit.
Bloomberg
04-08-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Korea Expects $350 Billion US Fund to Be Less Than 5% Equity
South Korea's presidential policy chief said the country's $350 billion investment pledge as part of the US trade deal is largely structured as loan guarantees rather than direct capital injections, seeking to ease domestic concerns over the scale and risks of the agreement. In a televised interview on Sunday, Senior Presidential Policy Director Kim Yong-beom said Seoul's actual equity commitment would remain below 5%, emphasizing the initiative is designed to support commercially viable, pre-vetted US-based projects and not intended to provide unconditional financial support.
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump reaches trade agreement with South Korea
President Trump announced on Wednesday that the U.S. had struck a trade deal with South Korea, which will now face a 15% tariff on its exports. Under the deal, South Korea will invest $350 billion in key U.S. industries and purchase $100 billion worth of its liquified natural gas, Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday. He added that further investments would be announced when South Korean President Lee Jae Myung visits Washington in the next two weeks. The new rate is a significant reduction from the 25% Trump had announced via a letter earlier this month, but still a blow to the longstanding free trade regime that had, for years, kept duties on goods from either country close to zero. Trump has long decried this arrangement as unfair to the U.S., which last year recorded a $66 billion trade deficit with South Korea. Read more: South Korea struggles with uncertainty over U.S. trade negotiations 'We are seeing that the negotiations happening in many countries since April are unfolding in a way that is very different from the principles of the WTO or FTA,' said Kim Yong-beom, a senior policy official for South Korea's presidential office, at a press conference on Thursday. 'It is regrettable.' Kim said that South Korean negotiators had pushed for a 12.5% rate on automobiles — one of the country's most important exports to the U.S. — but that they had been rebuffed, with Trump firm on his stance that 'everybody gets 15%.' U.S. and South Korean officials appear to be interpreting the deal — whose details are still scant — in different ways. Calling it an 'historic trade deal,' commerce secretary Howard Lutnick wrote on social media that '90% of the profits' of South Korea's $350 billion investment would go 'to the American people,' a claim that has immediately raised eyebrows in South Korea. Trump said something similar about the $550 billion investment package included in the trade deal struck with Japan earlier this month. Japanese officials, on the other hand, have said the profits would be split proportionately, based on the amount of contribution and risk from each side. At the press conference, Kim said that Seoul is operating under the assumption that 90% of the profits will be 're-invested' — not unilaterally claimed. He added that the specific terms still need to be laid out on a 'per-project basis.' 'In a normal civilized country, who would be able to accept that we invest the money while the U.S. takes 90% of the profits?' he asked. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has framed the $350 billion investment as a boost to South Korean shipbuilding, semiconductor and energy companies trying to make inroads into the U.S. markets. Read more: The U.S. has long wanted to sell more cars in Asia. Do Asian consumers want them? 'This agreement is the meeting of the U.S.' interest in reviving manufacturing and our intention to make South Korea companies more competitive in the U.S. market,' he said in a social media post on Thursday. 'I hope that it will strengthen industrial cooperation between South Korea and the U.S. as well as our military alliance.' While Trump also said that 'South Korea will be completely OPEN TO TRADE with the United States, and that they will accept American product including Cars and Trucks, Agriculture, etc,' Kim said that agriculture was not part of the deal and that no concessions on U.S. rice or beef — two major points of contention between Seoul and Washington — were given. South Korea, which is the world's top importer of American beef, currently bans beef from cattle that are older than 30 months on concerns it may introduce bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. Given its status as a staple crop and a critical source of farmers' livelihoods, rice is one of the few agricultural goods heavily protected by the South Korean government. Seoul currently imposes a 5% tariff on U.S. rice up to 132,304 tons, and 513% for any excess. 'We were able to successfully defend a lot of our positions in those areas,' Kim said. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump strikes tariff deal with S. Korea as deadline nears
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Washington will slap a 15% tariff on goods coming into the country from South Korea, a lower rate than the 25% duty he had threatened earlier. The new levy puts South Korea on par with other US trade partners like Japan and the European Union, which have also secured trade deals with Trump that set a 15% tariff rate for their exports to the US. The new rate would also apply to South Korean automotive exports. Trump touted it as a "full and complete trade deal" between the US and South Korea. He said Seoul had also agreed to buy $100 billion (€87.5 billion) worth of US energy products, including liquefied natural gas (LNG). "South Korea will give to the United States $350 Billion Dollars for Investments," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. He added that an additional unspecified "large sum of money" will be invested in the US by Seoul. Will South Korea open its rice, beef markets? It was not immediately clear how the investment deals would be structured, where the financing would come from, or over what time frame. Trump said additional South Korean investments would be announced later. He added that the East Asian nation would further open up its markets to American products, including cars, trucks and agricultural goods, and impose no import duties on them. Kim Yong-beom, policy chief from the South Korean presidential office, told a briefing in Seoul that the country's rice and beef markets would not be further opened to the US due to the sensitivity of the sectors. Trump said Wednesday that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung would visit the White House "within the next two weeks" for bilateral talks. The meeting will be their first since Lee assumed office in June. What's the reaction in South Korea? Following Trump's tariff announcement, Lee said the agreement would put South Korea on an equal or better footing compared with other trading partners. "We have cleared a major hurdle," Lee said, according to news agency Yonhap. "Through this deal, the government has eliminated uncertainty surrounding export conditions and ensured that US tariffs on our exports are either lower than or equal to those imposed on our major trade competitors." South Korea's opposition People Power Party (PPP), however, criticized the agreement. It said Lee's administration had rushed to clinch a tariff deal with Washington and that a lot of concessions were made. Song Eon-seok, interim leader of the PPP, called for the government to clarify if any other trade areas will be open to the US. Brazil hit with tariffs, but key sectors excluded Meanwhile, Trump on Wednesday also imposed a 50% tariff on most imports from Brazil, citing a "witch hunt" against his ideological ally and former President Jair Bolsonaro. The blow was, however, softened by Trump exempting some items such as aircraft and parts, aluminum, tin, wood pulp, energy products and fertilizers from the heavier duties. "We're not facing the worst-case scenario," Brazilian Treasury Secretary Rogerio Ceron told reporters. "It's a more benign outcome than it could have been." Brazil said it remains willing to negotiate with the US on trade, but that it will not give up on tools to defend itself under national law. In a statement signed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian government called the use of "political arguments" to defend the tariffs announced by the US against Brazil "unjustifiable." Brazil is one of the few major economies with which the US runs a trade surplus. Last year, the US' surplus amounted to $6.8 billion on a total trade volume of $91.5 billion, US Census Bureau figures show. Edited by: Wesley Rahn
