U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he will raise tariffs on certain goods from the Republic of Korea (ROK) from 15 percent to 25 percent, accusing ROK's legislature of not having enacted a bilateral trade agreement with the United States.
"Because the Korean Legislature hasn't enacted our Historic Trade Agreement, which is their prerogative, I am hereby increasing South Korean TARIFFS on Autos, Lumber, Pharma, and all other Reciprocal TARIFFS, from 15 percent to 25 percent," he said on social media.
"South Korea's Legislature is not living up to its Deal with the United States," Trump said. "President Lee and I reached a Great Deal for both Countries on July 30, 2025, and we reaffirmed these terms while I was in Korea on October 29, 2025."
According to the agreement finalized by Trump and ROK's President Lee Jae Myung in October 2025, the United States would impose blanket tariffs of 15 percent on imports from ROK, 10 percentage points lower than the level Trump had threatened. In return, ROK agreed to invest 350 billion U.S. dollars in the United States.
ROK is an important trading partner for the United States, which imported over 100 billion dollars' worth of goods from ROK in the past few years.
ROK's presidential office said that it has received no official notification from the U.S. about the latest tariff hike, and that the country's trade minister will visit the United States to discuss the matter.
Trump announces increasing tariffs on certain ROK products from 15 pct to 25 pct
Trump announces increasing tariffs on certain ROK products from 15 pct to 25 pct
Chinese and Finnish firms signed more than 10 cooperation agreements in Beijing on Monday, advancing joint work in innovation, green development and digitalization during the sixth meeting of the China-Finland Committee for Innovative Business Cooperation.
The gathering coincided with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's visit to China and drew more than 120 business representatives from both countries.
The cooperation agreements span cutting-edge sectors such as green buildings, biomedicine and digital technology, shifting beyond product manufacturing toward joint research, development and service-oriented production.
"The main thing is the access to the enormous resources here and expertise in pharmaceutical industry and also the expertise and quality of everything. It's certainly second to none," said Juha Yrjanheikki, CEO of Aurealis Therapeutics, a cell and gene therapy platform company.
"It's a major market. So, it's absolutely essential to be in China for us," said Michal Horak, vice president for Asia Pacific at the Peikko Group, a Finnish manufacturing firm.
Many Finnish entrepreneurs said they would remain in China for one or several weeks to pursue further cooperation opportunities.
"Our business in China continues to be very relevant and very important. Now we're seeing a shift to more modernization of the existing building stock as well as the digitization and this is why we are very busy developing new solutions on these fields as well," said Jussi Herlin, vice chair of board of directors of Kone Corporation, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry.
In 2025, two-way trade exceeded 8 billion U.S. dollars, while mutual investment stock surpassed 23 billion U.S. dollars, reflecting sustained enthusiasm from enterprises on both sides to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, said a spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
Orpo is on an official visit to China from Sunday to Wednesday at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
Earlier, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce said that Orpo is accompanied on his visit by executives of over 20 companies, spanning key Finnish sectors such as machinery, forest industry, innovation, clean energy and food, which fully demonstrates Finland's strong commitment to deepening bilateral economic and trade relations.
Chinese, Finnish enterprises sign deals as committee for innovative business cooperation meets
