By Jihoon Lee
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s appearing president Choi Sang-mok mentioned on Tuesday he hoped for bilateral relations with Washington to develop extra reciprocally underneath the Trump administration, citing considerations about how U.S. insurance policies may hit Asia’s fourth-largest financial system.
“The government will strive to further strengthen policy cooperation with the United States and promote mutual interests based on the shared value of the Korea-U.S. alliance,” Choi mentioned, citing the alliance’s slogan of “We Go Together”.
Choi mentioned he would search to have a telephone name with U.S. President Donald Trump on the earliest time attainable, hours after Trump was sworn in for his second time period because the forty seventh president of america.
Choi, the finance minister, has been serving as appearing president since Dec. 27, making an attempt to steer South Korea by its worst political disaster in many years after the impeachments of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and President Yoon Suk Yeol over Yoon’s short-lived bid to impose martial regulation on Dec. 3.
Trump, who held a 12-minute telephone name with Yoon only a day after his victory within the November presidential election, has not had a telephone name with both Han or Choi.
Earlier on Tuesday, Choi congratulated Trump on his inauguration in a publish on social media platform X, saying “The Republic of Korea looks forward to Making the Alliance Great Again”.
Choi additionally mentioned Seoul would evaluation response measures to Trump’s proposed insurance policies, notably on tariffs and electrical automobiles, that are anticipated to have an effect on its financial system each immediately and not directly.
In 2024, South Korea earned a record-high commerce surplus of $55.7 billion with america, up 25.4% from 2023, elevating worries that Trump may search commerce curbs.
Consultants say South Korea’s defence price sharing for some 28,500 U.S. troops deployed within the nation to discourage nuclear-armed North Korea may additionally be underneath risk.
Trump has beforehand referred to as for Seoul to pay extra for the deployment, regardless of a five-year deal signed in October previous to the November election.
South Korea’s inventory market reacted rapidly to information of Trump’s insurance policies.
The benchmark index erased early positive factors of greater than 1% to show decrease, after Trump mentioned he was considering of imposing 25% tariffs on imports from neighbouring Canada and Mexico, the place South Korean corporations additionally run factories.
Shares of South Korean battery makers additionally plunged, with LG Vitality Answer falling 5%, as Trump revoked the earlier administration’s electric-vehicle subsidy coverage, however the shipbuilding sector, which is on Trump’s radar for cooperation, rallied.
