South Korea's senior trade envoy said on Thursday that the United States has not yet taken the administrative step required to put higher tariffs on South Korean goods into effect, and he indicated he does not view such a step as necessary while Seoul advances to fulfil the terms of the two countries' trade agreement.
President Donald Trump last week threatened to raise tariffs on imports from South Korea, saying the move would respond to delays in putting into force a deal in which South Korea pledged to direct $350 billion of investment to the United States. The trade envoy, Yeo Han-koo, returned from discussions in Washington with U.S. officials and members of Congress and spoke to reporters after landing back in South Korea.
Yeo said Washington had not yet completed the administrative act of publishing higher tariff rates in the U.S. Federal Register, a step required for those rates to become an official administrative action. He added that South Korea believes publication is unnecessary because Seoul is making a "good faith" effort to implement the investment commitments set out under the agreement.
Yeo said Seoul was prepared to "faithfully and quickly implement" the trade deal.
Domestically, South Korea's legislature is moving to codify the investment commitments. Lawmakers from the ruling party and the main opposition agreed on Wednesday to aim to finalise by March 9 a bill that would enact the U.S.-bound investments specified in the trade agreement. On the urgency of the parliamentary timetable, Yeo observed that "Passing the investment bill as soon as possible is most important at this stage."
The envoy's comments underscore a diplomatic effort to reassure Washington that Seoul is taking concrete steps to meet its pledges, while also noting that the formal trigger for higher U.S. tariffs has not been enacted through the Federal Register. South Korea's timetable for legislative approval will determine how quickly those commitments can be formalised.
Questions remain about whether the legislative process will meet the March 9 target and whether that timing will affect the U.S. administration's decisions on tariffs. For now, Seoul is positioning its actions as motivated by good-faith compliance rather than by a legal obligation resulting from a published administrative measure in the United States.
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