South Korea minister warns ‘unfair trade’ to become more common

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Seoul, South Korea — South Korea expects “unfair trade practices” to become more common, necessitating firm action, a minister said Thursday after Seoul was hit by US President Donald Trump’s worldwide tariffs on steel and aluminum.

The steep 25 percent US levies on the metals came into place on Wednesday with no exemptions despite Seoul’s efforts to avert them.

Last year, South Korea shipped $3.2 billion worth of steel to the United States, ranking sixth overall, according to data from the International Trade Administration of the US Department of Commerce.

READ: Steel at heart of new Trump trade war

Its $600 million of aluminum exports placed the country fourth among the US suppliers.

“Unfair trade practices are expected to become more frequent, and the government will respond firmly,” Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Duk-geun said at a meeting with major steel companies.

“We are working to strengthen trade defense mechanisms, including monitoring circumvention dumping and steel imports,” he added.

Ahn also urged companies to divert their strategies, telling them: “Given the high level of uncertainty, I ask that you consider forward-looking investment and export strategies centered on high-value-added products.

“The government will also focus its support in this direction.”

South Korea’s trade ministry said a strategy for “addressing unfair steel imports and trade issues” would be developed and finalized in March.

Seoul’s other trade minister headed to Washington on Thursday, saying he would “negotiate to minimise economic sanctions” on the country.

The plan was to emphasize “that South Korea is one of the most aligned partners with the United States’ economic security policies”, Cheong In-kyo told reporters Thursday before he left.

Trump last week criticized South Korea, among other countries, for what he called “unfair” practices, saying Seoul’s “average tariff is four times higher” than that of US import taxes.

He also complained that Washington had given “so much help militarily” to South Korea, referring to the tens of thousands of US soldiers stationed there partly to protect against the nuclear-armed North.

Hours after Trump spoke, South Korea’s trade ministry issued a statement headlined: “The tariff rate on imports from the United States to South Korea is effectively close to 0 percent” due to a bilateral free-trade agreement.

US exports to South Korea amounted to $65.5 billion in 2024, up 0.7 percent from the previous year, according to Washington, while imports totalled $131.5 billion, a rise of 13.3 percent.

Cars and automobile parts make up nearly a third of South Korea’s exports to the United States, while petroleum and metals are its largest imports from the country.