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Bessent says Korea presented 'very good' proposals in trade talks before election cycle

Published: 14 May. 2025, 09:42 Updated: 14 May. 2025, 14:18

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testifies before a House Appropriations subcommittee oversight hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 6. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that Korea put forward "very good" proposals in bilateral talks over trade and other related issues before the Asian country's election cycle kicked off, as Seoul is seeking to secure exemptions from new U.S. tariffs.

Bessent made the remarks during a Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum in Riyadh as Seoul and Washington have been conducting trade consultations with a focus on tariff- and nontariff measures, economic security, investment cooperation and currency policy.

"South Korea is going through a governmental change, but before they went into the election cycle, the South Koreans came with very good proposals," the secretary said.

He did not elaborate, but Seoul officials have said that they discussed with the United States ideas for economic and industrial cooperation, particularly in the shipbuilding industry — a sector that the United States wants to focus on, given China's overwhelming shipbuilding capacity.

Bessent also touched on trade talks with other Asian countries.

"I've been focused on the Asia deals, of which obviously China is the largest. We've had very productive discussions with Japan," he said.

He called Indonesia "very forthcoming," while noting that Taiwan has also presented a "very good" proposal.

"So, on my side of the world ... things are going very well," he said.

The forum took place after the United States and China announced a deal to temporarily reduce tariffs for 90 days following talks in Geneva, Switzerland. Under it, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods will be lowered to 30 percent from the current 145 percent, starting Wednesday, while Chinese tariffs on U.S. exports will be cut to 10 percent from 125 percent.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, on April 29, 2025, in Washington. [AP/YONHAP]

Bessent said that during the talks, Washington and Beijing created the "Geneva mechanism" to prevent misunderstandings between the two superpowers.

"So, I think the important thing is that after this weekend, we have a mechanism to avoid escalation like we had before," he said.

He also underscored that Washington wants a decoupling from China in "strategic industries."

"Both sides agreed [that] we do not want a generalized decoupling between the two largest economies in the world," he said.

"What we want is the United States is going to decouple in strategic industries, which we saw during Covid we had become woefully non-self-sufficient ... whether it's medicines, semiconductors, other strategic areas. So the United States will bring those industries home."

On engagement with the European Union, Bessent pointed out what he called a "collective action" problem in Europe.

"I think the United States and Europe may be a bit slower. My personal belief is Europe may have a collective action problem," he said.

"The Italians want something that's different than the French. But I'm sure at the end of the day, we will reach a satisfactory conclusion."

Yonhap