S. Korea Tariff Talks Stalled
By Reuters | 16 Sep, 2025

After national outrage at having skilled Korean workers in Georgia treated like criminals, New S. Korean Lee Jae Myung holds fast against US demands and deadlines.

A South Korean worker who was detained in a huge immigration raid last week at the site of a U.S. car battery project involving Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution in the U.S. state of Georgia, hugs a family member in the long term parking lot at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, September 12, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Soo-hyeon

South Korea's presidential office said on Tuesday that tariff talks with the U.S. have been stalled for a while, but President Lee Jae Myung is determined not to force Korean companies to sustain losses by rushing to sign a trade deal. 

The countries have been struggling to overcome obstacles to finalise a trade deal agreed in July. Details of the broad trade agreement still need to be hammered out, especially around a $350 billion investment fund.

"We cannot do everything the U.S. wants... Although (President Lee) aims to reach a deal as soon as possible, he is determined not to give up his role concerning the national interest in order to meet a deadline," a presidential official told reporters on Tuesday. 

The ICE raid on a Hyundai-LG joint venture plant in Georgia earlier this month has angered many Koreans against its US ally, giving Lee little leeway to accede to Trump's extortionate demands based on leverage provided by his unilateral tariffs.  One of the most onerous demands by the US is upfront all-cash $350 billion investment projects in the US which would expose the Korean won to significant foreign-exchange devaluation and require subjecting many more Korean skilled workers to future ICE raids.  Since taking office Lee has made efforts to draw closer to N. Korea as a way to reduce dependence on the US military presence and nuclear umbrella.  

South Korea's top trade envoy, Yeo Han-koo, is currently in the United States for follow-up tariff negotiations. 

Yeo told reporters on Monday that Seoul and Washington were still engaging "intensively" in negotiations in bid to nail down a final trade deal, but the "devil is in the details", the Yonhap News Agency reported. 

(Reporting by Joyce LeeEditing by Ed Davies; reporting by Goldsea Staff)