South Korea and the United States have agreed to craft a package of deals aimed at removing new US tariffs before the pause on reciprocal tariffs are lifted in July, Seoul’s delegation said after the first round of trade talks in Washington.
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The US and South Korea had a “very successful” meeting on Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said afterwards.
“We may be moving faster than I thought, and we will be talking technical terms as early as next week,” he told reporters.
Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok and Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun.
Neither side offered details on possible areas of agreement, but South Korea said in a statement it requested exemptions from reciprocal and item-specific US tariffs, and offered cooperation on shipbuilding and energy as well as addressing trade imbalances.
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“During the meeting, the two countries reached a broad agreement on the framework for future discussions,” Ahn later told reporters. “We also agreed to hold working-level talks next week to determine the scope and structure of talks, with the goal of producing a ‘July package’ by the July 8 deadline”.
