South Korea will 'deploy all possible means' to respond
to U.S. tariffs: finance minister
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[March 12, 2018]
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea will
"deploy all possible means" to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump's
decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, the country's
finance minister said.
Last week, Trump pressed ahead with steep import tariffs of 25 percent
on steel and 10 percent for aluminum, but exempted Canada and Mexico and
offered the possibility of excluding other allies, backtracking from an
earlier "no-exceptions" stance.
South Korea, the third-largest steel exporter to the United States and a
strategic ally on the Korean peninsula, has already put in a request for
a waiver.
"We will make clear what our stance is," Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon
said on Monday during a policy meeting in Seoul.
"(The government) will deploy all possible means to respond to U.S.
steel tariffs measures and make an all-out effort," he added, without
elaborating.
South Korea's minister for trade, Kim Hyun-chong, who has visited the
United States twice in recent weeks to seek ways to minimize the damage
to South Korean steelmakers, will depart for the United States on
Tuesday, a ministry spokeswoman said.
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South Korean Finance
Minister Kim Dong-yeon speaks during his inaugural ceremony in
Sejong government complex in Sejong, South Korea, June 15, 2017.
REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
South Korea's government will also decide on whether to join the Comprehensive
and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership within the first half of this year,
Kim said at the meeting.
Eleven countries, including Japan and Canada, have signed the landmark
Asia-Pacific CPTPP trade agreement without the United States in what one
minister called a powerful signal against protectionism and trade wars.
"The government has been reviewing economic validity of CPTPP, and will draw
agreement between the related government agencies about joining it within the
first half," Kim said.
(Reporting by Shin-hyung Lee, Cynthia Kim, Dahee Kim; Additional reporting by
Jane Chung; Editing by Dwarakanath and Himani Sarkar)
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