Washington: South Korea and the United States have reached an agreement to pursue “expedient and meaningful” progress toward achieving “reciprocal and balanced” trade, as announced by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) following a bilateral meeting in Washington.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the meeting involved USTR Jamieson Greer and Ahn Duk-geun, South Korea’s minister of trade, industry and energy. The discussion was described as “productive” and centered on securing exemptions and exceptions from the Trump administration’s “reciprocal” and sectoral tariffs. Ambassador Greer emphasized the priorities of President Trump’s America First Trade Policy, and both sides acknowledged the importance of making progress toward balanced trade between the two nations.
The ministers discussed subsequent steps and instructed their teams to initiate technical discussions in the coming week. Greer also confirmed his attendance at the ministerial Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting on South Korea’s Jeju Island next month.
On Thursday, both Ahn and Greer participated in “two plus two” consultations with Seoul’s Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. They focused on crafting a package agreement on U.S. tariffs and bilateral economic and industrial cooperation before the expiration of President Donald Trump’s temporary pause on reciprocal tariffs on July 8.
The two countries agreed to concentrate future discussions on four main categories: tariff- and non-tariff measures, economic security, investment cooperation, and currency policies. Working-level talks on these issues are scheduled to begin next week.