Trump announces trade breakthrough with South Korea on Asia trip

US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung agreed that Seoul can split its promised US$350 billion investment fund. (AFP pic)
GYEONGJU: Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung finalised details of their fraught trade deal at a summit in South Korea today, and the US president also sounded an optimistic note about a looming summit with China’s Xi Jinping.
“We made our deal, pretty much finalised it,” Trump said at a dinner with Lee and other regional leaders on the sidelines of an Asia Pacific forum.
The allies unveiled a deal in late July under which Seoul would avoid the worst of US tariffs on its imports by agreeing to pump US$350 billion of new investments into the US in return for lower tariff rates.
However, talks over the structure of those investments had been deadlocked.
“Trump and Lee agreed that Seoul can split its promised US$350 billion investment fund into US$200 billion in cash to be paid in installments of US$20 billion,” Lee’s aides said.
The other US$150 billion is to be spent on investments in shipbuilding, which South Korea has promised to help Trump restore.
Arriving from Tokyo hours after North Korea test-fired a nuclear-capable cruise missile, Trump was given a lavish welcome by Lee in Gyeongju, a historic city hosting this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum.
His talks with Xi are set for tomorrow in the port city of Busan.
Speaking to reporters en route to South Korea, Trump dismissed the North Korea missile test and said he was squarely focused on his meeting with Xi, leader of the world’s second-largest economy.
“I think we’re going to have a very good outcome for our country and for the world, actually,” Trump said.
He added that he expects to reduce US tariffs on imports of Chinese goods in exchange for a commitment from Beijing to curb exports of fentanyl precursor chemicals.
“The US could halve the levies of 20% on Chinese goods it now charges in retaliation for the export of such chemicals,” the Wall Street Journal said.
China’s foreign ministry said the meeting of the two leaders would “inject new momentum into the development of US-China relations”, and Beijing was ready to work together for “positive outcomes”.