Trump Secures Trade Deal With South Korea Ahead of Nuclear Talks

This is not a deal at all. There is no market for American cars in SK. If you can't sell your product what's the point of raising the number of units that can be exported - except to maybe fool your uneducated base into thinking you are making America great.

This is not a deal at all. There is no market for American cars in SK. you can't sell your product what's the point of raising the number of units that can be exported?

Korea used their environmental regulations as a backdoor tariff. Eliminating this is a positive, if not modest, step towards cost parity while increasing market access by raising the import cap. Even if we never hit the cap, more potential customers is better than less. The truck tariff extension is the bigger victory. The Korean labor unions noticed. They ripped the agreement yesterday. Some will say Trump is being dumb, angering allies and eroding US influence. They're wrong. US influence is grounded in our worldwide military presence and 20T economy. Not international goodwill or our democratic values; whatever that means. We are the worlds largest customer and security service. It's about time we threw our weight around.

Another joke policy. Last year, US auto manufacturers sold about 11,000 cars in South Korea. The limit was 25k cars. So now that limit has been upped to 50k and we're supposed to celebrate what exactly?

As with everything Trump, this is for show and much rhetoric. Trump needs the support of South Korea for his meeting with Kim. And Kim went to China first. It is to allow Trump to save face on exempting the South Koreans on the 25% steel tariffs--they will export less to the USA. The South Koreans are not keen on US auto imports, so that concession was easy for them to give.

What is the "victory" here? That any deal at all got made? Because there's really nothing great in this for American business. So, looks like the Trump team is dying for a participation trophy. Seriously -- the plusses are increased quota in cars exported when car manufacturers never met the old quota anyway, and a decrease in S. Korean trucks imported which somehow helps because . . . S. Korean trucks?!? Any idea how popular Ford F series trucks are? Hint, more are sold each year than any three American-made sedans combined.

"trade experts said that American companies had not come close to meeting their existing quota last year, and that American carmakers had not done enough to tailor their products for South Korean consumers, who prefer smaller vehicles." Tariffs or threats of tariffs don't make US goods more competitive in the global marketplace. "Leveling the playing field" is a euphemism. It is, at the end, functionally a subsidy for certain industries paid for by other industries and your average American consumer.

Safety regulations eased? What happens when these less safe American cars start causing deaths ? Not a really good selling point for an auto.

As usual, any positive development engineered by President Trump, of any kind at any level anywhere on earth, is viewed with cynicism and continuing puzzlementarianism: "Let's not view this for what it is, but for how we can make it look suspicious." Sore losers - give it a rest.

What good is the increase in car quota for auto companies if we cannot sell the limited number of cars under the present South Korean import regime? I am not for pulling out of international trade deals. But we can's let our trading partners frustrate his in every which way they can. Enough is Enough. These unequal trade agreements have been going on since President Lyndon B. Johnson when Japan used all kinds of silly excuses and inspection checks to delay and fault our puny shipments of baseball bats if I'm recalling correctly.

My understanding is that domestic manufacture of passenger cars is rapidly dwindling, because it simply isn't profitable to make smaller vehicles in the U.S. The big ticket crossovers, SUVs and pickup trucks, especially those larded with high profit margin options, form the gravy train for U.S. auto makers, and Korea isn't competing in that sector. So I'm inclined to see this supposed 'victory' as another example of the current reality television, photo-op/window dressing that is the forte of this presidential administration - joining such pointless but popular 'victories' as the Carrier deal, the empty promise to 'bring back coal,' the 'big, beautiful wall,' the non-existent replacement for the ACA and all the rest of the Trumpist claptrap. Much of what the Trump administration is now attempting to 'negotiate' also is merely an attempt to backtrack and recapture agreements that went down the drain with the TPP. For example, Trump recently touted agreements with China for the export of semiconductors. But the fact is that 85% of U.S. semiconductor output is already for export - it is our 4th largest export sector. And the IP protections China agreed to were part of the TPP, a trade agreement that the American semiconductor industry overwhelmingly supported. Trump merely 'round-filed' what Obama already had accomplished, pulled it back out of the wastebasket, stamped his own name on it and declared 'what a good boy am I.' And the chumps still seem to lap this stuff up.

The car provision is so meaningless as to be laughable. There are very few American cars that would be viable in that market, where gas is far more expensive than in the US. Like the article says, we aren't even hitting the current allotment. But Trump gets to smirk and declare victory.

In the end, this will work for South Korea and will continue to help destroy the American economy. But Trump cares less about the American economy - he cares only for the amount of money he can steal and swindle - so somewhere, hidden in this deal, there must be a a payoff for the maniac. With any luck for this nation, he can use that payoff to try to pay for defense lawyers when he is arrested and jailed for treason and sedition.

I think South Korea desperately needs the U.S. now, not the other way around as the article implies. Donald was smart enough to figure that out, but the real test comes when he agrees to pull out U.S. troops from South Korea. What type of a deal with North Korea will he get?

It appears to be the same trade deal with minor exceptions. Russia owns steel plants in the US and Canada.

#1 WHY would they want to drive Buicks or any other American car, when they make such high quality cars of their own? S.Korea can be just as nationalistic as the US....they don't want to drive around in a US made car..... Bannon says to "Dumb it down" for Trump's base so they can understand it. That says is all folks.

It's a good thing we're finally standing up to our enemies around the world. This will surely show South Korea who's boss. Who needs friends or allies when you're 'negotiating' with North Korea. Now if we can just void the Iran nuclear deal, we'll be set for world peace a la Trump.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) was put in the freezer by president Trump beacuse it was negotiated by president Obama and because it was a terrible deal. Why not take it out of the freezer and rename it the Trump Trade and Investment Partnership? Then he can ask for lower tariffs for American cars exported to Europé. Without a trade agreement it is not possiblr to grant lower tariffs for American cars without giving the same favour to Chinese cars. A basic rule of WTO. If president Trump can make a deal with Sooth Korea, why not with Europe..

As the progressive economist Robert Kuttner wrote today "This trade deal is a model for future agreements" and lauded the agreement. Kuttner also gave the credit to Trump's excellent advisers and opined that Trump was not capable of doing the agreement on his own.

How about appointing an ambassador to South Korea ?

Very unconvincing article about slight changes and sleight-of-hand policy that sounds like GOP spin.

The thing that would increase steel production in US is infrastructure spend using only US made steel.

This is not a deal at all. There is no market for American cars in SK.

Economic bullying might work for some countries like South Korea, but not the rest of the world. As Mr. Macron of France observed "We talk about nothing, in principle, when it is with a gun to our head." Unfortunately, gun to head tactics is overall this president's mode of operation. That's his Art of the Deal strategy. Diplomacy and getting into the shoes of other countries so as to create acceptable policies, isn't something this man is good at or even capable of. Yet, any and all deals, like with South Korea, plays well to his base. It keeps them in his pocket. And that, I believe, is what he's primarily if not solely interested in and focused on. And perpetually with one thing on his mind. Electorally winning again next time exactly the way he won the first time.

South Korean president Moon just signed a bill to reduce his military troops serving on active duty. Of course he feels that America`s men and women are responsible to protect his country from the North. America gains nothing from this so called ally.

So Trump is against trade, I see.

As with most things regarding this administration, the policies are more rhetoric than substance. So SK will agree to sell less steel to us? That isn't necessarily good. People need to remember, even if these steel tariffs and quotas increase US production, it will be marginal and more expensive. Since the steel is essentially raw material, it will increase manufacturing costs down the line which of course will be passed on to the general consumer.

While the South Korean concessions are not tremendous, but they are more than what the Obama Administration negotiated in 2010. So, basically President Trump's negotiating strategy worked. In negotiations, as with metalworking, higher temperatures and pressure can yield a better product. The U.S./South Korea alliance remains strong and is now even more solid, since it is a bit more mutually beneficial. This is excellent news.

The United States cannot afford a protracted trade standoff at a moment when it needs the South as an ally. Wait, given the geopolitical tensions that exist, reverse that.

These agreements don't mean much if they are not coordinated with allies and global in scope. Thirty percent of current South Korea steel could flow through another country right into American markets. We don't have enough fingers for the dike. Protecting trucks for another 20 years is an environmental and economic boondoggle. Our Auto industry is defined by the truck tariffs rather than quality or market demand. Taken at ground zero of the Korean peninsula I do not see much gain, traction or solace from this agreement.

This was for show, it's about image, not reality. Trump gained a number, twice that of the previous number... and no automaker had even reached half of the previous number. So the reality is he got a number that is meaningless, to try and pretend he did something.

So now Ford and GM now get to sell more unsafe cars to SKorea? Best they not be on our streets anyway when our own self-driving cars hit the road here and start mowing down pedestrians. I’d hate to see things get anymore dangerous.

The South Korean's got the best of this deal. US car manufacturers can't meet existing sales quota. Increasing the quota does nothing to increase demand. South Koreans see steel industry exports as a very distant priority to tech exports knowing that steel is yesterday's industry for developed countries. The Korean tech juggernaut continues unabated.

The question is, will President Trump meet with Kim Jong-Un, President of the D.P.R.K.? Kim and Xi Jingping's meeting in Beijing yesterday may signal no talks, despite Trump's braggard's promise to meet with Kim "before May!". Don't lay wagers that there will be a Trump-Kim Summit anytime soon.

Like almost everything Trump and crew do. This is all about politics. Not substance. Actions are meaningful. Words are not. At least not when they come from Trump and his Trumpeters. Just how many of those factories he said are coming back, actually have? How about an article one year from now, indicating how many more US cars have been sold to South Korea. How much exports have increased. My bet? Not much at all.

The USA built the economy of South Koreas, and when we need a favor they complain??? The globalists want to bring the USA to its knees, destroy the nation State and institute a one world government to enslave the masses. The only problem is the USA, the US Constitution and freedom loving people everywhere. God Bless America

It will be interesting to see how many additional U.S.-made vehicles are consumed by South Korea and how many additional U.S. jobs are created, absent the current South Korean tariff. Or, are we just talking about a market that doesn’t exist and/or running the assembly robots longer?

That third paragraph says most of what you need to know about the why of this deal: S. Korea is more dependent upon the US for its security than the reverse. I suspect that every other “deal” will hinge on the same thing. Only the details will differ. This is just a variant of “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”

I wonder who had the upper hand in this negotiation? 'Sign this or we pull our our troops and let North Korea take you over.'

From reading this article, it seems that this new "deal" has only two substantial changes. It reduces the amount of steel S Korea can export to the US to 30% .... which probably means that some other exporting country will fill in that gap. What's the meaningful gain here? Second it increases the number of cars that the U.S. can export to S Korea. But, it appears that S Koreans haven't been buying the number that was allowed under the old agreements. So, at the practical level, this is a nothing gained "victory". The great deal-maker has succeeded in making a deal that will not, in any way, "Make America Great Again". What a farce!

He did not "secure" the trade agreement. It was negotiated, at great effort, by the GW Bush administration. The US and Korea have agreed to change the agreement in certain areas.

Trump didn't secure squat. He couldn't find Korea on a map!

So what does the Trump administration project in terms of net job increases in the industries they want to put tariffs on? Steel, like many other commodities and manufacturing businesses have been replacing human labor with automation for years. Trump, Narvarro, et al need to be honest with the American people about these new jobs - what is the expected lifespan of these new jobs and how many existing jobs will be lost to further automation over the same period?

"But winning the deal may have had more to do with the geopolitical realities confronting the United States and South Korea as America embarks on tricky nuclear discussions with North Korea." Agreed. "The United States cannot afford a protracted trade standoff at a moment when it needs the South as an ally." Huh? I would think the opposite is a more reasoned explanation. South Korea needs America for the above stated geopolitical reasons, therefore they would be willing to accept whatever trade deal the United States throws its way.

While nationalist like Bannon want Trump to show the American worker the benefits of these bilateral trade deals, in reality there may not be much to show. The steel market is glutted and while reduced South Korean steel may help US companies reduce inventory, it's not likely to create any new jobs. The same is true with autos. Peak production of autos was reached in 2016 has been declining since then. Even then sales were boosted by companies financing the purchase of their own vehicles with near 1% interest enticements. With the rise of interest rates that's no longer possible and sales are predicted to decline. Opening the South Korean market may make some difference, but not enough to save jobs and certainly not enough to increase them. Nationalists like Bannon don't realize that global capitalism has produced such highly integrated markets that countries can't simply flip the tariff switch and increase domestic jobs, especially when domestic spending is not going anywhere until wages significantly increase. But then again, Trump got elected with a lot of smoke and mirror economics. Maybe Bannon thinks it can happen again regardless of what the facts on the ground are.