Pressure grows on Korea's participation in Trump's gas pipeline project in Alaska
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., March 4. AP-Yonhap
Pressures are growing for Korea to participate in a natural gas pipeline project in Alaska led by the Donald Trump administration, amid ongoing negotiations on the U.S. tariff scheme.
In his address to Congress on Tuesday (U.S. time), Trump stressed that Korea, Japan and others wish to be partners in the Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.
His remarks came a few days after Korean Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun expressed Seoul's intention while meeting with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and Secretary of Interior and National Energy Dominance Council Chairman Doug Burgum, as well as other officials.
Ahn visited Washington last week for negotiations on the Trump administration's plan to impose 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, and introduce reciprocal tariffs, as well as the United States' ongoing consideration of new duties on cars, chips and pharmaceuticals.
The Alaska LNG project aims to build a nearly 1,300-kilometer pipeline from Alaska's vast North Slope to its ern port in Nikiski.
The estimated multi-billion-dollar project is reportedly targeted at exporting LNG to Asian countries, such as Korea and Japan.
Japan and Korea are respectively the world's second- and third-largest LNG importers.
Japan and the U.S. have reportedly been discussing forming a joint venture for the Alaska LNG project, with the topic being discussed during a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and Trump last month.
Still, Seoul's offer to join the Alaska project came as it is considered a prominent bargaining chip for Korea, which has been facing mounting pressure to sharply reduce its trade surplus with the U.S. in order to avoid the U.S.' new "reciprocal" tariffs.
Korea posted a trade surplus of $55.7 billion with the U.S. last year.
Trump has apparently upped the ante, if not dashing Seoul's hopes, claiming that Seoul's average tariff on U.S. exports is four times higher than that the U.S. imposes on Korean exports to the U.S.
Korea said earlier that its average tariff rate on imports from the U.S. stood at 0.79 percent in 2024, with the rate set to drop further this year in accordance with an annual tariff reduction plan stipulated in the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) that went into effect more than a decade earlier in 2013.
Earlier this week, Ahn told reporters that he has proposed Korean shipbuilders can manufacture icebreakers for the U.S. on a preferential basis in his Washington meetings, an apparently desperate attempt to appease the U.S. and keep it from looking into potential reciprocal tariffs on Seoul.
Seoul has also offered such treatment of U.S. orders for warships and tankers, which the U.S. welcomed, according to Ahn. (Yonhap)