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Foreign minister meets U.S. senators, White House officials after tariff deal

Published: 02 Aug. 2025, 14:23 Updated: 03 Aug. 2025, 14:00

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, left, meets with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the U.S. Department of State in Washington on July 31. [AFP/YONHAP]

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun has met U.S. senators and White House officials to discuss alliance and security issues, including North Korea's nuclear program, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Saturday, after the two countries reached a tariff deal this week.

Cho met Sens. Bill Hagerty, a Republican of Tennessee, and Pete Ricketts, a Nebraska Republican, and spoke with Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican of Alaska, by phone Friday during his visit to Washington for talks with his U.S. counterpart, Marco Rubio, earlier in the week, according to the ministry.

Cho noted that the tariff deal the two countries reached will serve to deepen their "strategic" economic cooperation, and asked the senators for their support for science and technology cooperation in various sectors, such as artificial intelligence.

The senators expressed expectations that the alliance will further deepen through the deal and vowed support so that Korean investments lead to progress in major areas of cooperation, such as shipbuilding and manufacturing, according to the ministry.

Under the deal announced Wednesday, Washington agreed to lower "reciprocal" tariffs on Korea to 15 percent from an earlier proposed rate of 25 percent, while Seoul agreed to $350 billion in investments in the United States, among other commitments.

Cho also met White House officials, including Andrew Baker, national security adviser to Vice President JD Vance, and Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, on Friday.

During his talks with Hassett, Cho asked for Washington's support for the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that Korea will host in late October.

Yonhap