South Korea Acting President: "Best Efforts to Minimize US Tariffs... Public-Private Cooperation is Important"

Visited Gwangju Kia Autoland
"Communicating with the Industry"

Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is holding a field meeting on the automobile industry at Kia Autoland Gwangju Plant on the 15th. Photo by Yonhap News

Han Duck-soo, Acting President and Prime Minister, stated on the 15th regarding the U.S. tariff imposition, "Since U.S. President Trump announced a policy to prioritize negotiations with allies such as South Korea, we are making our best efforts in negotiations to minimize the tariff burden."

At a visit to Gwangju Kia Autoland on the same day, Acting President Han said, "The new U.S. tariff policy, which is shaking the global economy recently, is affecting all industries," adding, "The automobile industry, one of our country's key industries, is also impacted by product tariffs."

He continued, "Fortunately, parts are temporarily exempted until the 2nd of next month, so during that period, we must do our best to maintain the competitiveness of our industry and prepare accordingly," and stated, "The whole world is greatly shocked by the U.S. tariff policy, and we are deeply considering what kind of response should be made."

He further emphasized, "Through a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on the 8th, we are strengthening cooperation in three major areas: shipbuilding, trade balance, and energy, and based on this, we are working to mitigate the impact on industries facing high tariffs such as the automobile industry, parts industry, and steel and aluminum industries."

Acting President Han said, "The government announced support measures for key industries including the automobile industry on the 9th," and added, "We will make every effort to actively implement these measures."

He also stated, "We will significantly expand the research and development (R&D) budget for the automobile industry and actively support securing technological competitiveness through projects such as the artificial intelligence (AI) autonomous manufacturing leading project," and added, "The government plans to closely communicate with the industry and prepare additional necessary measures at the appropriate time." He further noted, "For our industry to minimize the impact of this major shock, cooperation between the public and private sectors to turn crisis into opportunity is very important."