The U.S. Secretary of the Treasury noted that there has been progress in trade negotiations with South Korea.
It is noteworthy that he gave a positive evaluation, stating that he brought very good proposals despite being during a 'government transition period.'
Scott Van Santen, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, said on the 13th (local time) at the U.S.-Saudi investment forum held in conjunction with President Trump's Middle East tour, "South Korea is in a government transition period, but it brought very good proposals before the election intensifies."
He evaluated that "things are going very well in the world I belong to" regarding trade negotiations with Asian countries, including South Korea.
He emphasized that relations among major Asian countries are progressing smoothly. In addition to South Korea, he mentioned, "We had very productive discussions with Japan," and added that "Indonesia, a major trading partner, is very cooperative, and Taiwan also presented very good proposals."
Minister Van Santen is a key figure in the tariff war. Last month, he also held '2+2 (finance and trade) consultations' with South Korea. This statement is interpreted as a high appreciation of South Korea's position in trade negotiations.
In this regard, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer plans to visit South Korea this week to continue follow-up discussions.
On the other hand, regarding negotiations with the European Union (EU), Minister Van Santen evaluated that they could be "a bit slow."
He pointed out that "Europe could have a 'collective action problem,' as Italy and France want different things."
Minister Van Santen also mentioned the recent U.S.-China tariff reduction agreement.
He referred to this as the "Geneva mechanism" and evaluated that "the two countries have established a mechanism to avoid tensions."
He said, "We had plans and procedures. What we lacked with China was the mechanism," and noted, "After this weekend, we have a mechanism in place to avoid a deterioration of the situation like before."
The U.S. and China agreed to reduce tariffs imposed on each other by 115 percentage points (P) for 90 days during high-level talks in Geneva, Switzerland, on the 10th-11th.
In response to a question about the limits of discussions between the two countries, Minister Van Santen replied, "Everything is a subject of discussion." He also emphasized that the U.S. does not want "complete decoupling from China."
Minister Van Santen suggested the possibility of a "large, beautiful economic rebalancing" and presented as a 'dream scenario' the cooperation between the U.S. and China to promote 'opening up the Chinese consumer' and increasing China's purchases of U.S. goods.