President Donald Trump made this announcement in a post on the social media platform Truth Social.

President Donald Trump announced on January 26 that he would increase import tariffs on automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and lumber from South Korea from 15% to 25% because the South Korean National Assembly was slow to approve the trade agreement reached with the United States last summer.

President Trump made this announcement in a post on the social media platform Truth Social. He asserted that the US administration had acted quickly to reduce tariffs under trade agreements and expected its trading partners to do the same.

According to President Trump, he and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung reached a “Great Deal” for both countries on July 30, 2025, and the two leaders reaffirmed those terms when he visited South Korea on October 29, 2025.

President Trump stated that, because the South Korean National Assembly has not yet ratified the historic trade agreement between the two countries—what he called South Korea's right—he announced an increase in tariffs on automobiles, lumber, pharmaceuticals, and all other reciprocal tariffs from South Korea from 15% to 25%.

In the trade agreement announced in July 2025, President Trump stated that the U.S. would impose a general tariff of 15% on imports from South Korea, 10 percentage points lower than the level he had threatened that same month. He also said at the time that South Korea had agreed to provide the U.S. with $350 billion for investments that are owned and controlled by the U.S. and selected by him as president.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in November 2025 in a case challenging the legality of tariffs unilaterally imposed by President Trump. To date, the Supreme Court has not yet issued a decision on the matter.

Source: VTV

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