'The U.S. is renegotiating the deal with South Korea,' says Trump

'The U.S. is renegotiating the deal with South Korea,' says Trump. July. 15, 2017 07:14. by Yong Park, Se-Hyung Lee parky@donga.com,turtle@donga.com.

U.S. President Donald Trump called the Free Trade Agreement between South Korea and the U.S. “a horrible deal” and said the U.S. is “renegotiating the deal with South Korea.” On the same day, the United States Trade Representative officially requested for a joint committee to negotiate new terms of the accord, and it seems that Trump continues to regard it as a start of renegotiation process.

 

Trump told reporters on Air Force One Wednesday, “We have a bad deal with South Korea” as he flew to France to attend a summit with French President Emmanuel Macron. “We started, as of yesterday, renegotiating the deal with South Korea. We have to,” Trump said. The briefing by Trump to reporters was off-the-record and the White House released it to the public on Thursday per Trump’s instructions.

Before speaking about the FTA with South Korea, Trump said, “In terms of North Korea, our strength is trade. We have the worst of all trade deals is with China. Nobody has ever said it before. I say it all the time.” Trump also talked about quotas and tariffs to protect the U.S. steel industry against steel imports. “They're dumping steel. Not only China, but others. We're like a dumping ground. I'm stopping it. It'll stop. There are two ways - quotas and tariffs. Maybe I'll do both,” Trump said and blamed steel exporters to the U.S.