South Korea says tariffs on US imports 'effectively 0%' after Trump barb

SEOUL: South Korea rejected on Wednesday (Mar 5) US President Donald Trump's accusation that it charged steep levies on imports from the United States despite US military support, saying that tariffs on American goods are "close to 0 per cent".

Trump criticised South Korea, among other countries, on Tuesday over what he called "unfair" practices, saying Seoul's "average tariff is four times higher" than that of US import taxes.

He also complained that Washington had given "so much help militarily" to South Korea, referring to the tens of thousands of US soldiers stationed there partly to protect Seoul against the nuclear-armed North.

Hours after Trump spoke, Seoul's trade ministry issued a statement headlined: "The tariff rate on imports from the United States to South Korea is effectively close to 0 per cent".

"Under the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in 2012, both countries have eliminated tariffs on most goods," the ministry said.

"As of 2024, the effective tariff rate on imports from the US stands at approximately 0.79 per cent," it added.

Under global trading rules, South Korea does impose tariffs of 13.4 per cent on some imports – compared to the US baseline of 3.3 per cent – but not on products from the United States due to their bilateral free trade agreement, the ministry said.

"The South Korean government plans to actively explain these details through various dialogue channels with the US in the future," the ministry added.

The White House said in a February memorandum that there was a "lack of reciprocity" regarding tariffs and that the administration would make trade more "reciprocal and balanced".

South Korea's Acting President Choi Sang-mok said soon after that the impact of the reciprocal tariff measures "may not be significant due to the low applicable tariff rates under the Korea-US FTA."

But he added that the South Korean government needed to "closely monitor the situation" as it will extend beyond tariffs "to include non-tariff barriers such as value-added tax and digital services tax."

US goods exports to South Korea amounted to $65.5 billion in 2024, up 0.7 per cent from the previous year, according to Washington.

US imports from South Korea meanwhile totalled $131.5 billion in 2024, up 13.3 per cent from 2023.

Cars and automobile parts make up nearly a third of South Korea's exports to the United States, while petroleum and metals are its largest imports from there.