MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th May, 2019) South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee finished her official visit to the United States, saying "we did our best until the very end" to ensure the exemption from upcoming US tariffs on car imports for Seoul, media have reported amid claims that South Korea had secured the deal.
The visit finished on Thursday, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
Notably, US media reported on Wednesday, citing US President Donald Trump's draft executive order, that South Korea had negotiated an exemption from the duty hike. Moreover, the reports suggested the European Union and Japan had been given six months to negotiate a deal restricting their car imports to the United States in return to an exemption from the new tariffs. Other news reports suggested, citing sources, that the Trump administration had decided to delay the decision on the tariffs by six months.
"I want to say that we did our best until the very end to ensure the Section 232 measures aren't applied to South Korean cars ... An official announcement by the U.S. is forthcoming, so we have to wait," Yoo told reporters at an airport in Washington, D.C., as quoted by Yonhap.
The minister added that US officials and congressmen had "positively assessed" Seoul's efforts.
The Trump administration, which has engaged in a number of international trade rows and introduced various import duties on thousands of goods from across the world, has long been looking into restricting car imports and has recently been threatening to impose 25 percent tariffs on them on the grounds of national security.
