Seoul trade minister renews calls for USTR to grant S. Korea tariff exemptions

Trade Minister Cheong In-kyo speaks during a press meeting at the Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C., March 14. Yonhap

Trade Minister Cheong In-kyo said Friday that he has called for the Trump administration to grant Korea tariff exemptions and ensure the Asian ally will be treated in a "non-discriminatory" way.

Cheong met U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington earlier in the day, as President Donald Trump plans to roll out "reciprocal tariffs" on April 2, which will be pegged to U.S. trading partners' duties on American goods, non-tariff barriers and other elements, including exchange rate policies.

"I have requested tariff exemptions for Korea, or at least non-discriminatory treatment (for Korea) compared with major countries," Cheong said during a meeting with Korean correspondents in Washington.

Cheong also said he highlighted that reciprocal tariffs on Korea should not be based on Trump's recent remark in a congressional address claiming that Korea's average tariff is four times higher than that of the U.S.

Seoul has countered Trump's claim by saying Korea's average tariff rate on U.S. products stands at less than 1 percent under a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA).

Korea's average tariff on its most-favored nations (MFNs) stands at around 13.4 percent — compared with the U.S.' 3.3 percent on its MFNs — but that rate is not applicable to countries with free trade deals with Asia's fourth-largest economy.

"The U.S. side was also aware that in accordance with the FTA, both countries' tariffs are near zero percent," he said.

"While sharing the understanding about the usefulness of the Korea-U.S. FTA as a framework for comprehensive economic cooperation, (the two sides) agreed to explore a reasonable and mutually beneficial way through continued working-level consultations on tariff measures," Cheong said.

Moreover, the minister used his meeting with the USTR to underscore the need for exempting Korean steel products from 25 percent tariffs that went into effect earlier this week.

"I explained that Korean steel exports do not pose a threat to the security of the U.S. industry, and that they are rather contributing to supply chain stabilization and downstream industrial competitiveness through the supply of items whose production falls short in the U.S.," he said. (Yonhap)