Lutnick "Korea must pay tariffs if no agreement…Trump will personally handle Korean work visas"

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick pressured that Korea must pay tariffs if it does not accept U.S. demands regarding the U.S.-Korea trade agreement. He said Korea should agree to an accord to invest $350 billion (U.S. investment fund) as the U.S. requests, similar to the agreement with Japan.

"Korea must pay tariffs if no agreement"

Lutnick said in an interview with CNBC on the 11th (U.S. Eastern Time) that "Korea did not sign when President Lee Jae-myung visited the U.S.," and added, "Japan has already signed the agreement, so Korea should accept that agreement or pay tariffs." He explained, "This is either accept it or pay tariffs (the choice is) one of the two." This is interpreted as pressure from the U.S. for Korea to accept the U.S. demands on the U.S.-Korea trade agreement, which reached a broad framework agreement on July 30 but shows differences on details such as the U.S. investment fund.

The U.S. and Korea agreed in July, on the condition of creating a U.S. investment fund, to lower mutual and auto tariffs from 25% to 15%. However, the agreement has not yet been signed, and auto tariffs remain at 25%. In this regard, Blue House policy chief Kim Yong-beom said, "We are explaining to the U.S. that the preconditionally important issue is how to procure and operate $350 billion in the foreign exchange market (without shock)," and added, "Because of that issue, the negotiations are considerably deadlocked."

Japan signed a final agreement with the U.S. on the 4th. Lutnick explained that regarding the $550 billion Japan agreed to invest, "If we propose a project and the investment committee approves it, Japan will send the money." He cited examples such as the Alaska LNG pipeline project and nuclear power plant construction. He said, "From Japan's perspective, there will be no loss from taxes," and explained, "The Japanese government will issue government bonds and borrow money at a 1% interest rate, but as time passes and they repay it, there will be no cost to Japanese taxpayers."

"Trump will personally handle Korean work visas"

Regarding the 'mass detention of Korean workers' that occurred in Georgia, Lutnick said, "President Trump will handle this issue directly," and said, "If you want to make large-scale investments in the U.S., bring workers in through short-term work visas, train Americans, and then return them to their home country." He added, "A Hyundai plant will be built."

New York = Correspondent Kim Hyun-seok realist@hankyung.com