Trump updates: South Korea leader Lee Jae-myung visits White House

US tariff deal with South Korea – what we knowpublished at 17:12 British Summer Time
Image source, Getty Images
It wouldn’t be a meeting with Trump if the T word – tariffs – wasn’t mentioned.
While South Korea and the US have already struck a deal, tariffs may still come up when President Lee Jae-myung meets Trump later today.
Here’s what we know about the agreement:
At the end of July Trump announced that the US would slap South Korea with a 15% tariff on imports in what he called a “full and complete trade deal”.
South Korea had previously been facing a 25% levy but it managed to strike a deal with Trump.
The deal, which will also see Seoul invest $350bn (£264.1bn) in the US, has been touted as a success in South Korea.
The 15% tariff rate will cover both cars and semiconductors, two of Seoul’s main exports to the US.But steel and aluminium, other big earners for South Korea, will be taxed at 50%, in line with the global rate President Trump has set.
At the time South Korean leader Lee Jae Myung praised the deal, saying it would put his country on an equal or better footing compared with other countries.
One victory for South Korea is that it did not need to cross key red lines it had set, chiefly that it would not further open up its rice and beef markets to US imports.
Seoul has strict controls over how much US rice, and what types of beef, can be imported to protect its farming industry – farmers were planning to protest if these rules were relaxed.
Of the $350bn South Korea has promised to invest in the US, $150bn will go into helping the US build ships, including warships.
This was central to South Korea’s strategy. It has a thriving shipbuilding industry, building more vessels than any other country in the world other than China, at a time when US shipbuilding and its navy is in decline.