Koo Yoon-cheol to Hold Final Talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary Tomorrow at 10:45 PM

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yoon-cheol will meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the 31st.

On the 30th, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced, "Talks between Deputy Prime Minister Koo and Secretary Bessent are scheduled to take place at the U.S. Department of the Treasury on the 31st at 9:45 AM (local time)." In Korean time, this is 10:45 PM on the 31st.

This meeting is expected to be the "final negotiations" held just one day before the expiration of the U.S. reciprocal tariff suspension (August 1). Originally, Deputy Prime Minister Koo and Secretary Bessent planned to hold a "2+2 trade consultation" on the 25th of this month with Yeo Han-koo, Korea's Trade Minister, and Jamieson Greer, the U.S. Trade Representative, but the talks were rescheduled to the 31st due to Secretary Bessent's scheduling conflicts.

Previously, Deputy Prime Minister Koo departed for the U.S. on the 29th to conduct trade consultations with Secretary Bessent. Immediately upon arrival, he held nearly two hours of tariff negotiations with Howard Lutnick, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, at the U.S. Department of Commerce located in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the same day, Secretary Lutnick recently met with Korean officials in Scotland, stating that "everything should be included in the (deal)," and requested the strongest possible final proposal.