Four Days Left for Korea-US Tariff Talks... "Korea's Trump Card Is Shipbuilding"

"What the US Wants Through Tariffs Is Market Opening"

With only four days left until the August 1 deadline for the Korea-US tariff negotiations, Park Wongon, a professor at Ewha Womans University, stated, "The definite card that Korea holds is the shipbuilding industry."

On July 28, appearing on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyunjung's News Show,' Professor Park said, "Among US allies, Korea is the only country in the world that can cooperate in the shipbuilding industry." He added, "Japan mentioned investment in shipbuilding during its investment process in the US, but it cannot say that practical technological cooperation can be achieved immediately. However, Korea can."

Photo of the US-Japan tariff negotiations released by Dan Scavino, Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House. X (X, formerly Twitter)

Previously, the US and Japanese negotiating teams initially agreed on a scale of $400 billion for Japan's investment in the US. However, US President Donald Trump personally revised this figure to $500 billion, and the final announcement specified $550 billion. Regarding this, Professor Park commented, "It's for show," and evaluated, "President Trump wanted to demonstrate, not only to the world but also within the US, that he is a master negotiator who worked hard to achieve the maximum result."

Regarding the US lowering tariffs on Japanese automobiles from the existing 25% to 12.5%, he said, "From Japan's perspective, this is a favorable outcome. More important than mutual tariffs are item-specific tariffs." He continued, "For Japan, 70-80% of its exports to the US are automobiles. For us, it's about 37%, so the tariff rate is very important, and it has been reduced." He also expressed concern, saying, "The competition in the US market for automobiles is between Korea and Japan. If Japan has lowered its automobile tariffs to 12.5%, but we do not lower ours to a similar level, the price competitiveness of Korean cars in the US market could decrease."

Professor Park stated, "Out of more than 50 countries, only five have reached an agreement on the tariff issue, so we are in the same position as the other 45 countries." He added, "According to US media, President Trump has changed his statements on tariffs more than 25 times. Therefore, there is a possibility that his stance may change again." He went on to say, "What the US wants through tariffs is to open up markets, to increase investment in the US, and to secure cooperation for US security."