SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s top trade envoy said on Friday that South Korea is trying to resolve issues around U.S. auto tariffs quickly, explaining to the U.S. that “Japan and South Korea are different”.
Under a trade deal with Japan, the U.S. applies a 15% tariff on Japanese car imports, while U.S. tariffs on South Korean auto imports are 25%.
On July 30, Trump said the U.S. will reduce duties on automobile imports to 15% in return for Seoul investing $350 billion in the U.S. But the change has yet to be implemented as the two countries are at odds over the details of the investments.
“We’ve explained the differences between Japan and Korea as much as possible,” Trade envoy Yeo Han-koo told reporters upon his return to South Korea on Friday after a trip to Washington this week where he met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Top officials in Seoul have repeated in recent days that accepting all U.S. demands and copying the format of Japan’s deal with the U.S. would be difficult.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Neil Fullick)
