Korea urges USTR chief to honor 15% tariff deal at G20

South Korea’s chief trade negotiator met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of the G20 Trade Ministers’ Meeting and urged Washington to honor their agreement to cap tariffs at 15 percent.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources on Friday, Trade Minister Park Jung-sung attended the two-day meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from Wednesday, where he called for international cooperation to address global overcapacity and stabilize supply chains.

Park took part in four sessions on the weaponization of food, structural overcapacity, reform of most-favored-nation treatment, and eliminating forced labor from global supply chains.

On steel overcapacity, Park stressed the importance of companies’ voluntary restructuring and trade remedies in line with World Trade Organization rules, saying excessive protectionism outside international norms should be avoided.

Park also held bilateral talks with trade officials from the United States, China, the European Union, Britain, Japan, India, Turkey, Australia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil.

In his meeting with Greer, Park urged the USTR chief to respect the 15 percent tariff agreement.

The two sides also agreed to coordinate the schedule for a Korea-U.S. joint committee meeting following the announcement of the first projects under Seoul’s U.S. investment package.

Reuters reported that Greer said Tuesday that the U.S. would take into account tariff ceilings agreed under trade deals with other countries when investigating overcapacity.

Korea agreed last year to $350 billion in U.S. investment, including $150 billion for shipbuilding cooperation and $200 billion in strategic investments, in exchange for Washington lowering its tariff rate from 25 percent to 15 percent.

Seoul has maintained that the combined burden of a 12.5 percent forced-labor tariff and any future tariffs on overcapacity should not exceed the 15 percent ceiling agreed by the two countries.

Park’s request was seen as a reaffirmation that the existing agreement should be honored as the promised U.S. investments begin to take shape.

With EU Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Maro? ?ef?ovi?, Park discussed the EU’s Industrial Acceleration Act and measures to reduce uncertainty for Korean companies.

Park thanked the UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Jonathan Reynolds for the UK’s exemption of Korean imports of Russian liquefied natural gas from regional sanctions.

Park also discussed closer cooperation on critical minerals and energy supply chains with China, Australia and Indonesia, and expanded economic partnerships, including free trade agreements, with Saudi Arabia and Brazil.