Trump increased duties on goods from South Korea to 25%

US President Donald Trump has announced an increase in US duties on a number of goods from South Korea to 25%. This will affect, for example, cars and pharmaceutical products. Trump expressed displeasure that South Korean lawmakers never approved his "grand bargain" with the country's president made last summer.

"Since Korean lawmakers have not enacted our Historic Trade Agreement, which is their prerogative, I hereby increase South Korean duties on automobiles, timber, pharmaceuticals and all other 'retaliatory' tariffs from 15% to 25%," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Washington has acted quickly in each of its trade deals to cut duties as agreed, the US president said. Trump reached the agreement with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on July 30, 2025. "Why didn't South Korean lawmakers approve it?", Trump asked.

Trump has renewed his early 2026 trade policy activism and threats of duties on various U.S. trading partners. On Saturday, January 24, Trump threatened to impose 100 percent duties on all of Canada's exports to the U.S. if it enters into a trade agreement with China. This came after China and Canada reached a tentative agreement in mid-January to mutually lower some trade barriers.

A week earlier, on January 17, Trump announced a 10 percent duty on eight European countries that supported Denmark and opposed his attempts to gain control of Greenland. The new levies were to take effect on February 1. However, already on January 21, Trump, while at the World Economic Forum in Davos, announced their cancellation. According to the US president, he and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte "formed a framework for a future deal on Greenland" and reached a "mutual understanding." Trump did not specify what kind of agreements they were talking about.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor