South Korean Industry minister returns home from follow-up talks with US over trade deal

Seoul, Sep 14 (IANS) Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan returned home Sunday after a trip to the United States, where he held follow-up talks with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on the bilateral trade agreement reached in July.

Kim had been in the US since Thursday to iron out differences over the details of the trade agreement under which South Korea pledged to invest US$350 billion in the US in exchange for Washington lowering its "reciprocal" tariffs on South Korea from 25 per cent to 15 per cent.

Kim and Lutnick met at an undisclosed location in New York, but it remains unclear whether they made any significant progress.

Upon arriving at Incheon International Airport, the country's main gateway west of Seoul, early Sunday morning, Kim declined to answer reporters' questions about the outcome of the negotiations.

The trade agreement was initially concluded in July and reaffirmed in broad terms during last month's summit in Washington between President Lee Jae Myung and US President Donald Trump.

Details of the investment plan remain undecided, however, with South Korea's presidential chief of staff for policy, Kim Yong-bum, recently saying the two sides are at an "impasse."

Lutnick said on Thursday that South Korea should either accept a bilateral framework trade deal struck in July, or face steep tariffs, amid an impasse in negotiations to work out specifics of the agreement.

“The Koreans didn't sign when the president … came to the White House. He didn't sign the piece of paper,” Lutnick said in a CNBC interview, referring to the August 25 visit by Korean President Lee Jae Myung to Washington for a summit with President Donald Trump.

--IANS

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