U.S. President Donald Trump made a claim that South Korea's non-tariff barriers are hindering the export of American automobiles.

Donald Trump, the President of the United States, is giving a speech announcing the implementation of mutual tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House on Dec. 2. /Courtesy of UPI

On 2nd (local time), during a tariff announcement in the Rose Garden of the White House, Trump mentioned unfair trade practices by other countries and claimed, "All non-monetary (trade) restrictions imposed by many countries, including South Korea and Japan, may be the worst."

Trump said, "As a result of these tremendous trade barriers, 81% of the cars sold in South Korea are produced in South Korea, and 94% of the cars in Japan are produced in Japan."

He noted, "Toyota sells 1 million cars made abroad in the U.S., while General Motors (GM) hardly sells any (from Japan), and Ford sells very few," adding, "In many cases regarding trade, the ally is worse than the enemy."

He also claimed that South Korea imposes a tariff ranging from 50% to 513% on American rice, depending on the quantity. In fact, South Korea imposes a 513% tariff on imported rice.

However, a 5% tariff is applied to the annual quota of 408,700 tons for the low-tariff quota (TRQ), of which the TRQ amount allocated to the U.S. is 132,304 tons.