US President Donald Trump calls for emergency meeting in Seoul over tariffs on automobiles, timber and other imports from South Korea

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१३ माघ २०८२, मंगलवार १६:२८January 27, 2026

. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s government held an emergency meeting on Tuesday to assess the situation after President Donald Trump announced he would impose tariffs on imports of goods including automobiles, timber and pharmaceuticals.

President Trump on Monday accused South Korea of not fully complying with previous trade agreements with Washington and said he would increase tariffs on those goods.TAG_OPEN_div_39 According to his announcement, the tax rate will be increased from 15 percent to 25 percent.

However, South Korea’s presidential office said it had not received any official notification from the US side about the tariffs.TAG_OPEN_div_37 Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump claimed that South Korea’s legislature is not working according to its agreement with the United States. According to him, he decided to increase the tax rate because the Korean parliament “did not implement our historic trade agreement”.

The announcement was followed by an emergency meeting in Seoul on Tuesday.TAG_OPEN_div_35 Kim Jong-kwan, who is currently in Canada’s Minister of Trade and Industry, attended the meeting remotely. In a statement issued after the meeting, the South Korean government reaffirmed its commitment to the implementation of the tariff agreement with the US side and said it would respond in a calm and measured manner.

The government has said that the tax hike announced by Washington will not take effect immediately and will only take effect after the necessary administrative procedures such as publication in the Federal Register.TAG_OPEN_div_33 Meanwhile, South Korea’s trade minister Kim is scheduled to travel to Washington for a summit with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

The development comes in the wake of a trade and security agreement signed between Washington and Seoul just a few months ago.TAG_OPEN_div_31 The agreements were expected to take bilateral relations in a new direction, limiting long-running tense talks. The deal was finalized after Trump met his South counterpart Lee Jae-myung in October, which included U.S. tariff cuts and pledging more investment from the South.

But the deal has since been legally pending in South Korea.TAG_OPEN_div_29 Seoul’s presidential office said in November that the deal was more of a memorandum of understanding than a binding legal document and did not require parliamentary approval. Asked whether the deal had been submitted to parliament, a senior official told AFP on Tuesday that they were reviewing it, but declined to give further details.

Under the deal, Washington imposed tariffs of up to 15 percent on South Korean goods, including automobiles, car parts and pharmaceuticals.TAG_OPEN_div_27 Specifically, the deal reduced U.S. tariffs on South Korean cars from 25 percent. But if President Trump’s latest warning is implemented, that arrangement will be overturned.

The auto industry accounts for about 27 percent of South Korea’s total exports to the United States, accounting for about TAG_OPEN_div_25 half of the country’s total car exports. Analysts say a return to higher tariffs could put South Korea’s exports in a weaker position than economies such as Japan and the European Union, both of which have agreed a 15 percent tariff deal with the United States.

So far, the Trump administration has yet to release the official information needed to implement the tax changes.TAG_OPEN_div_23 The warning, aimed at South Korea, is one of the latest harsh remarks by the US president on key trading partners in recent days.

Earlier over TAG_OPEN_div_21 the weekend, President Trump warned Canada that it would impose 100 percent tariffs on all goods crossing the border if it made a trade deal with China. In early January, he threatened to impose tariffs on several European countries unless Greenland was purchased.