SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States and South Korea agreed to revise a trade pact sharply criticized by U.S. President Donald Trump, Seoul said on Monday, with U.S. automakers winning improved market access and Korean steelmakers hit with quotas but avoiding hefty tariffs. On cars, which is an area of particular interest for the Trump administration, the US will maintain tariffs on South Korea's exports of pick-up trucks until 2041, from the previously agreed 2021. Signs of talk between the two economic giants allayed fear of an escalating trade war, sparked after U.S. President Donald Trump moved to slap tariffs on Chinese goods, on top of import duties on steel and aluminum, prompting a defiant response from Beijing. [MKTS/GLOB]

The agreement means South Korea will be forced to cut its steel exports to the U.S. by 30 percent of past three years’ average, in exchange for becoming the first U.S. ally to receive an indefinite exemption on steel tariffs imposed by Trump. The agreements in principle were announced Monday just hours after Trump said the United States was on the verge of amending its trade agreement with South Korea, which took effect in 2012. Part of the recent agreement within the auto-sector of the deal, between Moon Jae-in and President Donald Trump, via Lighthizer and Ross, is an exemption of U.S. steel tariffs for South Korea in exchange for a doubling of U.S. auto exports; from 25,000 to 50,000 American made cars, per U.S. automaker, per year. Last year, the United States imported nearly $16 billion worth of South Korean passenger cars but sent only $1.5 billion worth in the other direction, according to US government figures.
South Korea and the United States reach agreements on trade and steel tariffs.