Trump threatens to hike tariffs on South Korean goods over inaction on trade deal

PTI, January 27, 2026, Washington : President Donald Trump said Monday he is increasing tariffs on South Korean goods because the country's national assembly has yet to approve the trade framework announced last year.

Trump said on social media that import taxes would be raised on autos, lumber and pharmaceutical drugs from South Korea with the rate on other goods going from 15 per cent to 25 per cent.

The US president previously imposed the tariffs by declaring an economic emergency and bypassing Congress, while South Korea needed legislative approval for the framework announced in July and affirmed during Trump's October visit to the country.

“Our Trade Deals are very important to America. In each of these Deals, we have acted swiftly to reduce our TARIFFS in line with the Transaction agreed to,” Trump said. “We, of course, expect our Trading Partners to do the same.”

The threat was a reminder that the tariff drama unleashed last year by Trump is likely to be repeated again and again this year. The global economy and US voters might find the world's trade structure constantly being subject to disruption and new negotiations as Trump has already sought to levy tariffs in order to bend other nations to his will.

Trump has in the past tied his tariffs to commitments by South Korea to invest USD 350 billion in the US economy over several years, including efforts to revitalise American shipyards. But the Trump administration's relations with South Korea have at times been rocky with the raid last year by immigration officials at a Hyundai manufacturing site in Georgia that caused 475 people to be detained.

South Korea's presidential office responded in a statement that the US hasn't officially informed it of the tariff hike plan.

It said South Korean Industry Minister Kim Jung-Kwan, who is currently visiting Canada, will soon travel to the US for talks with Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.

The statement said Kim Yong-beom, the presidential chief of staff for policy, will convene a meeting to discuss Trump's announcement.

Monday's announcement of new tariffs fits a pattern in which Trump plans to continue to deploy tariffs, possibly to the detriment of relations with other countries.

Just last week, the president threatened tariffs on eight European nations unless the US gained control of Greenland, only to pull back on his ultimatum after meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Trump on Saturday said he would put a 100 per cent tax on goods from Canada if it followed through with plans to bolster trade with China.

Trump has bragged about his trade frameworks as drawing in new investment to the US, yet many of his heavily hyped deals have yet to be finalized. The European Parliament has yet to approve a trade deal pushed by Trump that would put a 15 per cent tax on the majority of goods exported by the EU's 27 member states.

The United States is poised this year to renegotiate its amended 2020 trade pact with Canada and Mexico. There are also ongoing Section 232 investigations under the 1962 Trade Expansion Act, as well as an upcoming Supreme Court decision on whether Trump exceeded his authority by declaring tariffs under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. (AP)