President Donald Trump is hosting Lee Jae Myung, the new president of South Korea, at the White House on Monday for talks expected to centre on trade and defence.The first in-person meeting between the two leaders could help flesh out details of a July trade deal between the two countries that has Seoul investing hundreds of billions of dollars in the US. The agreement set tariffs on South Korean goods at 15 per cent after Trump threatened rates as high as 25 per cent.Trump declared at the time that South Korea would be “completely OPEN TO TRADE” with the US and accept goods such as cars and agricultural products. Automobiles are South Korea’s top export to the US.
Seoul has one of the largest trade surpluses among Washington’s NATO and Indo-Pacific allies, and countries where the US holds a trade deficit has drawn particular ire from Trump, who wants to eliminate such trade imbalances.Lee’s office said in announcing the visit that the two leaders plan to discuss cooperating on key manufacturing sectors such as semiconductors, batteries and shipbuilding. The latter has been a particular area of focus for the US. president.
On defence, one potential topic is the continued presence of US troops in South Korea and concerns in Seoul that the US will seek higher payments in return.Ahead of his visit to Washington, Lee travelled to Tokyo for his first bilateral visit as president in a hugely symbolic trip for the two nations that hold longstanding historical wounds.The summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was interpreted by analysts as a way to show unity and potential leverage as Japan and South Korea face new challenges from the Trump administration.Lee was the first South Korean president to choose Japan for the inaugural bilateral visit since the two nations normalised ties in 1965.Elected in June, Lee was a former child labourer with an arm deformity who rose his way through South Korea’s political ranks to lead the liberal Democratic Party and win the presidency after multiple attempts. He succeeds the conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, whose brief imposition of martial law last December led to his stunning ouster from office.Lee faced an assassination attempt in January 2024, when he was stabbed in the neck by a man saying he wanted Lee’s autograph and later told investigators that he intended to kill the politician.Lee arrived in the US on Sunday and will leave Tuesday. He headlined a dinner Sunday evening with roughly 200 local Korean-Americans in downtown Washington on Sunday night.
