S. Korean Officials Still Looking for a More Definitive Trade Agreement, Says Former Ambassador

"The joint statement that we have been looking for was not announced. So, yes, it seems a bit too early for us to discuss the details of the meeting," said Choi Seok-young, former South Korean ambassador to Geneva and senior adviser with Korean law firm Lee & Ko. He was speaking at an Aug. 25 event sponsored by South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The former ambassador spoke on a panel about reciprocal tariffs and trade rebalancing.

A joint statement on trade with more specific language could come sometime later, Choi continued, noting the U.S. and the EU in July said they had a trade agreement, but then the joint statement wasn't announced until August.

When the U.S. and South Korea negotiated trade provisions in July, "that was a verbal agreement and a political agreement, meaning that perhaps it is not binding and nothing [is] written either," Choi said, speaking through a translator. However, the July negotiations helped South Korea "ease the uncertainties" ahead of the implementation of the reciprocal tariffs, he continued.

There have been roughly four categories under negotiation: the reciprocal tariffs of 15% on Korea, the sectoral tariffs on autos, the U.S. wish for Korea to purchase American autos and more manufactured products from the U.S. and the elimination of Korea's nontariff barriers, according to Choi.

Other areas still needing further definition are Korea's investment in U.S. shipbuilding, "as there is quite a lot of disagreement between the two countries about the investment conditions," and Korea's intention for the U.S. market to be more open to Korean rice and beef exports, according to Choi.

Korean negotiators are also watching how the U.S. conducts bilateral negotiations with other countries to ensure it doesn't negotiate at a disadvantage, Choi said. And trade negotiations need to address provisions in Korea's free-trade agreement with the U.S. that have not been hit by tariffs, he said.

Separately, Lee at another CSIS event on Aug. 25 confirmed that his nation and the U.S. will work on shipbuilding, as well as technologies.

"The tariff deal that our two countries have made will serve as a stepping-stone to strengthen advanced technology cooperation between our two countries," Lee said. His country's "shipbuilding industry, equipped with the world’s strongest capabilities, will bring about a renaissance of the U.S. shipbuilding industry and create a new historic turning point for mutual prosperity," he said.

Shipbuilding is just one area where South Korea and the U.S. have formed an alliance, Lee continued. Other areas include AI, semiconductors, quantum technology and nuclear energy.

"Even at this moment, the alliance is authoring a new chapter of history. A future-oriented, comprehensive, strategic alliance is firmly rooted in the three pillars of security, economy, and advanced technology," Lee said.

Lee also said he and Trump agreed to "modernize" the bilateral alliance between the two countries "to be more reciprocal and future-oriented in line with the changing security landscape."

Lee credited any successes in his meeting with Trump to reading Trump's book, The Art of the Deal.

"As President Trump said, as a technique in negotiating... he presents conditions that are hard to accept for the opponent, but at the final stage, he does not come to an unreasonable conclusion. So – and this was the pattern that I observed in his previous negotiations with other countries. And because of the importance of the Korea-U.S. alliance, I was confident that he would not inflict a wound to our alliance."