The White House said a revamping of the trade deal between the U.S. and South Korea announced Wednesday proved that President Trump is a “visionary and courageous” leader whose confrontational approach is winning America better deals for its exports.
The deal — currently an “agreement in principle” between the two countries — would double to 50,000 the number of U.S. cars exempted from South Korea’s safety and environmental regulations and would keep a 25 percent tariff on pickup trucks until 2041. The tariff had been set to expire in 2021. South Korea also agreed to relax policies that restrict U.S. pharmaceutical exports and to reduce labeling requirements on U.S. imports.
In return, South Korea’s exports of steel to the U.S. would be exempted from the recently imposed 25 percent tariffs. Instead, they would be capped at 70 percent of the average export volumes to the U.S. from the last three years, about 2.6 million tons.
Administration officials said the deal vindicates Trump’s move to put new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, saying it was prompting trade partners to offer better deals. Critics of the approach had argued that they would prompt backlashes and leave the U.S. economy worse off.
“There’s … a story about how this whole approach validates President Trump’s visionary and courageous approach to taking on these things which previous presidents have refused to do,” a senior administration official told reporters Tuesday evening.
The official added that the policies have sent a message to other trade partners. “It’s pretty clear that the world and our trading partners are responding to this president differently. They know that when the president makes promises, like he did to renegotiate our agreements or to move in another direction, that he meant it,” the official added.
Proponents of free trade applauded the new deal, but were careful not endorse Trump’s tariff policies. “I commend [U.S. Trade Representative Robert] Lighthizer and his Korean counterparts for coming to terms on this matter. [The U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement] is our nation’s strongest, most modern free-trade agreement, and we are pleased both governments reaffirmed their support for free and fair trade,” said Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue.
