South Korea Requests Tariff Exemption Amid U.S. Plans for New Tariffs:

Seoul’s industry ministry revealed on Saturday that as Washington is advancing with its plans of placing more tariffs, South Korea’s industry minister had requested for a tariff exemption during the negotiations with the U.S. Seal’s explanation includes telling that Ahn Duk-geun spoke to the U. S. Secretary of Commerce Mr. Howard Lutnick, Secretary Of Interior Mr. Doug Burgum, and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer this week in Washington while attending a conference on shipping tariff exemptions from Donald Trump’s administration and enhancing United States-Korea relations.

Earlier this week, Ahn traveled to discuss matters of cooperation around energy and shipbuilding with regard to an exemption from US steel tariffs.

This trip occurred around the same time the Deputy Trade Minister Park Jong-won reached out to Washington with a delegation to Taipei and attended 22nd PTC Meeting. He wished to convince the Trump Administration to grant a waiver on the steel and aluminum tariffs for South Korea.

As a leading global exporter and the second largest trading partner of the United States, South Korea has been increasingly concerned over the measures taken by Trump.

The four largest economies in Asia are part of a group of 20 nations that have comprehensive free trade agreements with the US. Apart from Australia and Singapore in the Asia Pacific, Japan has a more focused agreement concerning critical minerals.

While the FTA permits traders to move most goods between the countries without taxes, this month Trump intends to add to his ever-growing list of tariffs by imposing a global 25% tax on steel and aluminum in all countries including South Korea. These new tariffs are supposed to take effect in March and add to the tariffs his administration will be enforcing on other trade partners from April.

South Korea's acting president and finance minister Choi Sang-mok on Friday urged U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a video call to notice Seoul’s input while formulating policies in Washington.