Bessent: U.S., South Korea Could Have Trade “Understanding” Next Week

The U.S. and South Korea could have the blueprint of a trade agreement as soon as next week (Bloomberg).

What’s going on: “We had a very successful bilateral meeting,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday of his reported gathering earlier in the day with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok and Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun.

“We may be moving faster than I thought, and we will be talking technical terms as early as next week as we reach an agreement on understanding as soon as next week.”
Under the administration, South Korea—widely viewed as a bellwether of the health of global trade—faces 25% reciprocal tariffs on its goods imports to the U.S.
The East Asian nation has been one of the first to hold face-to-face negotiations with the U.S. to discuss the tariffs.

The backdrop: Bessent and Greer’s meeting came amid a flurry of high-level tete-a-tetes between the administration and other countries.

“Trump recently declared ‘big progress’ with Japan” in tariff discussions, Bloomberg reports.
Also on Thursday, President Trump met with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store to talk about “the need to end the war in Ukraine” (UPI).
And earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made “significant progress” toward a trade agreement, according to a statement.

The impact on South Korea: The tariffs are already hurting South Korea’s economy, preliminary data released by that country this week shows.

“Exports from Asia’s fourth-largest economy fell 5.2% from a year earlier in the first 20 days of April,” and “[i]mports plunged 12%, leading to a trade deficit” (The Wall Street Journal, subscription).