South Korea’s president has expressed pessimism that “very difficult” trade talks with the US can be concluded before Washington’s self-imposed deadline next week to avert steep tariffs, noting that “the two sides are not really clear on what they want”.
South Korea was “doing its utmost” to find a resolution to negotiations triggered by US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 25 per cent “reciprocal” tariff on Asia’s fourth-largest economy, Lee Jae-myung told reporters on Thursday.
But he played down expectations that an agreement would be reached before July 9, when paused US tariffs on a host of countries were due to come into force.