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Seoul pushes for a delay in Washington's tariff increase

Published: 05 Feb. 2026, 17:05 Updated: 05 Feb. 2026, 19:50

Yeo Han-koo, the head of trade negotiations at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, returns to Korea via Terminal 2 of Incheon International Airport on Feb. 5. [NEWS1]

As the U.S. government prepares to publish a notice in the Federal Register to raise tariffs again on Korea, Seoul is seeking to “buy time” by pushing for a delay in the effective date.

“Even if the tariff hike is published in the U.S. Federal Register, what matters is whether it takes effect immediately or whether there is a one- to two-month grace period,” said Yeo Han-koo, the minister for trade at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, at Incheon International Airport on Thursday after returning from a trip to the United States.

“We are trying to persuade Washington that the publication itself is unnecessary because Seoul is making efforts in good faith to implement the strategic investment agreement with the United States,” said Yeo.

The U.S. government is currently preparing a Federal Register notice related to the matter, and a draft was reportedly completed at the working level. Coordination is now allegedly underway among relevant agencies, such as the Commerce Department, Justice Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Seoul rushed senior officials — including Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Kim Jung-kwan and Foreign Affairs Minister Cho Hyun — to the United States in a bid to prevent publication, but Washington’s stance has yet to show signs of change.

Yeo was dispatched to the United States on Jan. 29 for six days of talks on tariffs. During his trip, he met with Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Rick Switzer to explain Seoul’s position on the tariff hike but made no meaningful progress. A meeting with his counterpart, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, did not materialize.

“I emphasized that Korea is willing to implement the tariff agreement faithfully and swiftly,” Yeo said. “I also tried to persuade them that a tariff increase is not desirable when Korea is working on the issue in good faith.”

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer appears before the Senate Committee on Finance for his pending confirmation on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 6, 2025. [AP/YONHAP]

The United States has cited the delay in enacting the legislation as the biggest reason for pursuing a tariff increase, officials said. As a result, the government is reportedly asking Washington to delay the effective date to buy time until the National Assembly passes a special act on investment in the United States.

The ruling and opposition parties agreed to form a special parliamentary committee on Wednesday to handle the bill and complete the legislative process within a month.

“It was hard to predict the U.S. response,” Yeo continued. “But the bipartisan agreement to speed up the legislation will clearly help, given the U.S. position.”

“I can’t disclose details of the talks,” said Yeo when questioned on how talks about issues such as “digital regulations” and the “Coupang issue” were going. “The joint fact sheet agreed by the two countries last November covers not only investment but also nontariff barriers. Both Korea and the United States need to manage such issues carefully to prevent them from flaring into friction.”

“Digital regulations” refers to Seoul’s push to tighten rules for online platforms and other digital services, including proposed legislation that would subject dominant platforms to tougher oversight and curb practices seen as anticompetitive. Industry groups and policymakers in Washington have argued that such rules could function as nontariff barriers if they disproportionately affect U.S. tech companies or create new compliance burdens.

The “Coupang issue” is a shorthand for the controversy in Korea-U.S. trade circles over how Korean authorities have handled probes and potential penalties involving Coupang, the U.S.-listed e-commerce giant. Speculation in Washington has linked the dispute to concerns that enforcement actions tied to incidents such as a large-scale customer data leak could be perceived as singling out an U.S.-listed firm, even as Seoul has denied any direct linkage to tariff threats.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY AHN HYO-SEONG [[email protected]]