South Korea asks US for tariff exemption, trade ministry says

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's trade minister has asked his U.S. counterpart to exempt the country from reciprocal tariffs if they go into effect in April, the trade ministry said on Saturday.

During his visit to Washington this week, Trade Minister Cheong In-kyo met U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and stressed that South Korea should not get unfavourable treatment, the ministry said in a statement.

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced reciprocal tariffs on all U.S. trading partners from April 2.

Earlier this month, Trump singled out South Korea for applying high tariffs. He said the U.S. Asian ally's tariffs were four times higher than those of the United States.

Seoul has disputed this. As of 2024, South Korea's effective tariff rate on U.S. imports stood at 0.79% as the two countries have a free trade pact, according to the South Korean government.

"Both sides shared the view that they will continue discussions to seek constructive and mutually beneficial progress on tariff and non-tariff measures in the future too," the trade ministry said.

South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok, who said Trump's America First policies took aim at Seoul, ordered the government to more actively communicate with the U.S. administration to resolve any misunderstanding over tariffs.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Rod Nickel)