Latest news with #bilateral alliance
CNA
a day ago
- Business
- CNA
South Korea's Lee, Trump to hold summit on Aug 25 on security alliance, economy
SEOUL: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and US President Donald Trump will hold their first summit meeting on Aug 25 in Washington to discuss strengthening the bilateral alliance and economic security partnership, Lee's office said on Tuesday (Aug 12). Lee, who was elected president in a snap election in June, has made it a top priority to help his export-dependent country navigate the dramatic changes in the global trading environment triggered by Trump's tariff policies. "The two leaders will discuss ways to develop the US-South Korea alliance into a comprehensive strategic alliance of the future in response to the changing international security and economic environment," presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung told a briefing. Based on the tariff deal reached last month, the two leaders will seek to push forward a partnership in the manufacturing sector, including in semiconductors, batteries and shipbuilding, as well as critical minerals and technology, Kang said. Trump announced on Jul 30 the countries had reached a trade deal that would subject South Korean goods to 15 per cent import duties, lowering the tariff he had initially set against one of America's top trading partners. In return, Trump has said South Korea will announce investment plans at the upcoming summit and that Seoul had committed to making US$350 billion of investments to be "selected" by him. South Korean officials have offered differing details, however, and topics left unresolved by the deal - which has yet to be committed to writing - provide scope for more disputes between the allies. Trump may use the summit to seek more concessions on defence costs and corporate investments, left out of the deal, while non-tariff barriers and currency could prove thorny issues, experts said. Defence costs are expected to emerge as a key issue during the upcoming summit, with Trump having long said South Korea needed to pay more for the roughly 28,500 American troops based there as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War. The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the Trump administration wanted Seoul to boost defence spending to 3.8 per cent of GDP, up from 2.6 per cent last year, and to increase its US$1 billion-plus contribution toward the troops. Jeremy Chan, a senior analyst at the Eurasia Group, said it was unclear if such issues will be raised directly by Trump, but he said he expected that at least at the working level, discussions are going to move beyond trade and investment to the broader alliance. "I think it is more likely that Trump and his team are going to raise at least quietly, issues related to the security alliance," he said. "So that could be putting pressure on President Lee to increase the defence share of government spending."
South China Morning Post
6 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
South Korea's ‘headache': defence cost-sharing on agenda for US summit, but no Taiwan talk
The United States is expected to pile pressure on South Korea for increased burden-sharing of defence costs in a coming summit between the leaders of both countries, with Seoul's role in a potential Taiwan conflict set to be excluded from the agenda. The cautious stance on China also aligns with the office of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung stressing the importance of fostering ties and engagement, as it downplays comments by his foreign minister labelling Beijing a 'problem'. Discussions are still under way to finalise the agenda for the first summit between Lee and US President Donald Trump , tentatively set for later this month in Washington. US representatives have reportedly informed Seoul during working-level talks that Washington does not plan to raise the Taiwan issue at the summit, according to Yonhap News Agency. Instead, the summit was likely to yield only a broad agreement to elevate the bilateral alliance into a 'comprehensive strategic alliance' in response to an evolving regional security environment, it said. Public Affairs Director of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff Lee Sung-jun (left) and United States Forces Korea Public Affairs Director Ryan Donald (right) at Thursday's press briefing on the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, part of an annual combined training with troops from South Korea and the United States. Photo: EPA The progressive Hankyoreh daily, citing a senior government official, also reported that South Korea's role in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would not be broached at the summit. 'That is a hypothetical situation, so we will not talk about it,' the official said.
