Acting President Han Duck-soo and Prime Minister noted in an interview with the U.S. economic media CNN that Korea will not choose to fight back against the U.S. implementing mutual tariffs like China. Instead, he said they would seek a solution through negotiation.
The CNN interview was released about an hour and a half after Acting President Han Duck-soo had his first currency call with U.S. President Donald Trump on the 8th from 9:03 p.m. to 9:31 p.m. for about 28 minutes.
President Trump announced that starting from the 5th, a basic tariff of 10% would be imposed on all imported goods entering the U.S., and from the 9th, higher tariffs than this would be imposed on over 60 trading nations as part of a "reciprocal tariff." The reciprocal tariff rate for Korea is 25%.
In relation to this, Acting President Han Duck-soo said, "Korea clearly wants to negotiate with the U.S." He described the imposition of tariffs as "a pity" and noted, "This is not something that can be resolved in a day or two." He added, "We need to assess very calmly what the 25% means to us and negotiate.
When asked if Korea would consider retaliatory measures against the reciprocal tariffs like Japan and China, he firmly stated, "We will not take that path." After China was subjected to a 34% reciprocal tariff by the U.S., it announced it would impose retaliatory tariffs at the same rate. Acting President Han noted, "I don't think that kind of retaliatory counteraction would dramatically improve the situation."
Earlier, on the 30th of last month, economic and trade ministers from Korea, China, and Japan met to agree to expand economic and trade cooperation. In regard to this, Acting President Han said, "That meeting was not special, but a general meeting," downplaying its significance. He stated, "It's not an alliance to retaliate against the U.S. tariffs," adding, "Such responses would stifle global trade."
Meanwhile, after the currency call with Acting President Han, President Trump wrote on his social media, "I had a good currency with the Acting President of Korea." He added, "We discussed the massive and unsustainable trade surplus, tariffs, shipbuilding, large-scale purchases of U.S. LNG, the joint venture related to the Alaska pipeline, and the significant expense related to military power that we provide to Korea."