Kim Jung-kwan ties chip tariff talks with the US to a no-less-favorable pledge
South Korea's trade minister Kim Jung-kwan said talks on US semiconductor tariffs are proceeding under the principle, set in last October's bilateral deal, that Korean chips receive no less favorable treatment than competitors. Speaking in Washington after an investment ceremony, he said a Taiwan-style tariff-quota structure was possible but Taiwan's own deal remains unfinished, and the first bilateral investment project should still be confirmed within September.
Economics & Markets··Midday
A no-less-favorable pledge
South Korea's industry minister Kim Jung-kwan told reporters at an event marking investment plans by four US companies in South Korea that both governments' consistent position is to proceed in the spirit of the joint fact sheet agreed with Washington, which carried a US pledge that semiconductor tariff terms would be no less favorable than those for comparable chip trade volumes. He said the first investment project under the bilateral trade deal could be announced this month, The Korea Times reported, though no timeline has been given for announcing the tariffs themselves.[1]
The Taiwan comparison
Seoul Economic Daily reported Kim's fuller remarks from a Washington investment ceremony the same day, in which he traced the no-less-favorable principle to talks held with the United States the previous October. Asked whether Korea's chip tariffs might follow the structure of the US-Taiwan agreement, he said that approach was possible but that Taiwan's own deal remains unfinished, with discussions still under way in Taiwan's legislature. The outlet noted Taiwanese firms including TSMC have been promised tariff quotas of up to 2.5 times their US facility capacity while building new plants and 1.5 times after construction ends.[2]
September investment timing
Both accounts describe Kim addressing when the first project under the trade deal will be confirmed. The Korea Times reported his statement that an announcement could come this month, while Seoul Economic Daily quoted him saying there had been no change to the plan to wrap it up during September and attributing any delay to domestic procedural steps rather than a substantive problem. Neither report cites a US government statement on the tariff terms themselves; the account rests on the minister's own characterization of talks that remain unresolved on both the chip-tariff timeline and the identity of the first funded project.[1], [2]
