00:00Yeah, let's actually delve into that with President Trump threatening those tariffs to 20...
00:05He says it's because the country's legislature has...
00:10We're able to codify the trade deal both nations reached last year.
00:14Let's bring in...
00:15Troy Sangerone, non-resident fellow at the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology.
00:20Great to have you with us, especially given that these news just broke a few minutes ago.
00:25Given that President Trump has only not threatened South Korea but also European...
00:30countries, also Canada, I mean, does it make you feel that a trade...
00:35...truths with the United States is not necessarily a long-term deal and that this could be a...
00:40...run-off that could also pass?
00:42I do think this is something that could pass.
00:45We've...
00:45We've seen with the case over Greenland and the tariffs on EU nations.
00:49We saw with...
00:50Iran and the threat of any country that trade with Iran of a 25% tariff, that those ultimately...
00:55...to effect.
00:56I think what we're seeing here is President Trump would like to see the agreement...
01:00...of Korea move more quickly than it has, though we're only about three months since it was finalized.
01:05So it's perhaps understandable that we haven't gone further than we have so far.
01:09But I think this...
01:10This is something that will likely pass.
01:12The Korean Prime Minister was in Washington recently...
01:15...he spoke with Vice President Vance about where things were.
01:18So things should be on a...
01:20...to a solid footing.
01:21I think in terms of longer term, though, there is this question of...
01:25...what will hold.
01:26In the case with Greenland recently, we saw USCR Jameson...
01:30...and Greer say that, in essence, that countries need to compartmentalize things and there might be...
01:35...issues where the US will put a tariff on a country while the deal is still in place.
01:39So I think...
01:40This is the challenge going forward, is where will the US expect countries to compartmentalize certain...
01:45...issues where it wants more and puts a tariff in place while the deal that they have already remains in place.
01:50We're hearing that the South Korean government...
01:55...didn't necessarily receive any official notice on these tariffs from the Trump administration.
02:00...when it comes to the relationship between Washington and Seoul, how detrimental...
02:05...could this be?
02:06Remember, even during the negotiations on the trade deal, we had seen that immigration rate...
02:10...in Georgia causing a lot of uproar in South Korea.
02:15This is a relationship that I think we've seen some ups and downs with.
02:18You've had the downsides with the...
02:20...in Georgia.
02:21You have this potentially now.
02:23But there are upsides.
02:24The United States is referring...
02:25...to Korea as a model ally.
02:27One that it wants others emulate.
02:28It's been happy.
02:30...with South Korean spending on defense.
02:33We've seen significant developments...
02:35...with the U.S. allowing South Korea to develop nuclear subs.
02:38So I think there has been some back and forth...
02:40...in this relationship.
02:41But this was something that would be a serious issue in South Korea.
02:45If these tariffs go back up to 25%, that then starts impacting businesses and puts...
02:50...to Korea at a disadvantage to Japan and the European Union.
02:53So this is an important issue, but I do think this is...
02:55...one that we can resolve.
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