Trump Blasts South Korean Instability Before Leader’s Visit
President Donald Trump blasted South Korea for political instability, foreshadowing a potentially rocky visit by the country’s president to the White House to discuss its framework trade and investment agreement with the US.
“WHAT IS GOING ON IN SOUTH KOREA? Seems like a Purge or Revolution. We can’t have that and do business there,” Trump posted Monday on social media hours before his scheduled meeting with South Korean leader Lee Jae Myung, without identifying a specific incident.
The summit in Washington comes a few weeks after the two sides reached a last-minute trade deal that capped tariffs on US imports of South Korean goods at 15%, allowing Seoul to avoid the 25% rate that Trump had threatened to impose. But US officials have since signaled dissatisfaction over the terms.
Before departing for Washington, Lee signaled that his meeting with Trump might be fraught, warning that US officials viewed the tariff deal they struck in July as too favorable to Seoul.
“Some in Washington think the agreement benefits Korea too much, and different departments are surfacing calls to change it,” Lee told reporters aboard the presidential aircraft. “We can’t simply accept unilateral attempts to reopen what both presidents have already approved.”
Trump’s social media post highlighted a vulnerability that has haunted Lee in South Korea since he took office in June. His predecessor’s decision to invoke martial law last December shocked the world, spooked markets and triggered the nation’s worst constitutional crisis in decades.
Despite past criticism of the US, Lee has sought to show that he’s a dependable leader that Washington can deal with, and has spent weeks preparing for his White House meeting.
The meeting was also expected to feature thorny issues, including reaching an agreement on defense cooperation, which Seoul initially tried to make part of the tariff deal. US officials have also been eager to pin down South Korean on the specifics of the $350 billion it pledged to invest in the US as part of the deal.
Lee’s government is expected to unveil about $150 billion in US investment plans from private companies during Monday’s meetings, Hankyoreh newspaper reported last week.
Source : Bloomberg
