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🇰🇷 South Korea /Economy & Trade

Kim Jeong-gwan says first U.S. investment project will be completed in September, seeks fair semiconductor tariffs

From Dong-A Ilbo · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jeong-gwan said the first investment project tied to the follow-up to U.S.-South Korea tariff talks should be completed sometime in September.
  • He declined to confirm reports that Washington had sought a larger investment, saying the final result should be assessed later.
  • Kim said Seoul was negotiating for South Korean semiconductors to receive treatment no less favorable than that given to competing countries, while four U.S. technology companies announced $2 billion in planned investments in South Korea.

South Korea’s first investment project in the United States under the follow-up to the bilateral tariff agreement remains scheduled for completion in September, Trade Minister Kim Jeong-gwan said in Washington.

“We said September, not early September, and it is proceeding according to that schedule,” Kim told reporters after an investment declaration ceremony and investor roundtable on Sept. 3. He said the project involved several domestic procedures rather than one especially large issue, and repeated that he had no change to the September timetable.

We said September, not early September, and it is proceeding according to that schedule.

· Kim Jeong-gwanThe South Korean trade minister reaffirmed the timetable for the first U.S. investment project linked to the bilateral tariff talks.

Asked whether the United States had recently demanded a larger investment, Kim avoided confirming the reports. “There is a national interest involved, and negotiations involve various back-and-forth elements,” he said, asking reporters to judge the matter after the final result emerges.

Kim also said discussions on U.S. semiconductor tariffs were continuing under principles agreed during the countries’ tariff negotiations last October. “The overall principle is that our semiconductors should receive treatment that is not unfavorable compared with competing countries,” he said. He added that the exact terms still needed to be negotiated and that both sides shared an understanding that talks would follow the spirit of their memorandum of understanding and joint fact sheet.

There is a national interest involved, and negotiations involve various back-and-forth elements.

· Kim Jeong-gwanKim responded cautiously to questions about whether Washington had asked South Korea to increase its investment.

Asked whether conditions in the U.S.-Taiwan trade agreement could apply to South Korea, Kim said that was possible but cautioned that Taiwan-related matters had not been finalized. Taiwan semiconductor companies including TSMC have received tariff-free import quotas while building new U.S. facilities, equal to 2.5 times planned production capacity during construction and 1.5 times new capacity after completion.

Separately, four U.S. advanced-technology companies, including industrial-gas group Air Products and semiconductor ion-implantation equipment maker Axcelis, announced planned investments totaling $2 billion in South Korea. Kim said the companies had expressed strong confidence in the Korean economy and the government’s economic and foreign-investment policies, and indicated that they intended to continue investing as their businesses developed.

The overall principle is that our semiconductors should receive treatment that is not unfavorable compared with competing countries.

· Kim Jeong-gwanHe described Seoul’s position in ongoing negotiations over U.S. semiconductor tariffs.
About this summary

Originally published by Dong-A Ilbo in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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