U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed that South Korea’s reciprocal and auto tariff rate will be set at 15%, averting a steeper 25% levy ahead of the 1 August deadline.
The announcement follows intense trade negotiations between Washington and Seoul in recent weeks, as South Korea sought to avoid the full 25% tariff that had been threatened by the United States.
The agreed 15% rate brings South Korea in line with Japan, which signed a similar trade deal earlier this month. South Korean officials had previously indicated they were pushing for parity with Japan’s terms.
The deal covers key export sectors including automobiles, steel, and semiconductors. It is seen as a strategic compromise aimed at maintaining stability in the high-tech supply chain and avoiding disruption in trade flows between the two allies.
South Korean Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol and Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo had led a high-level delegation to Washington in the final push for the agreement. President Lee Jae Myung earlier said the talks were "not very easy," but necessary to protect South Korea’s industrial base.
Details of Seoul’s concession package are expected to include increased cooperation in shipbuilding, green energy, and advanced tech sectors, along with a potential multi-billion-dollar investment pledge by South Korean conglomerates.
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China has announced plans to fully cover childbirth-related costs for families as authorities move to incentivise young couples to have more children.
The Taliban leadership in Afghanistan opted out of a major regional meeting held in Iran’s capital Tehran on Sunday.
Australia vowed stricter gun laws on Monday as it began mourning victims of its worst mass shooting in almost 30 years, in which police accused a father-and-son duo of killing 16 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
Oil prices are rising worldwide as investors assess supply risks linked to growing tensions between the United States and Venezuela after the former seized an oil tanker Skipper on 10 December, a move Caracas calls “international piracy”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated his offer to host Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Ankara, at his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The talks took place on the sidelines of the international Forum for Peace and Trust in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on Friday (12 December).
Russia’s human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, has said that Ukraine has not provided Moscow with a list of thousands of children it alleges were taken illegally to Russia, despite the issue being discussed during talks in Istanbul.
Iranian authorities have seized a foreign tanker carrying more than 6 million litres of smuggled fuel in the Sea of Oman, detaining all 18 crew members on board.
An explosive device found in a vehicle linked to one of the alleged attackers in Bondi shooting has been secured and removed according to Police. The incident left 12 people dead.
The latest round of clashes between Thailand and Cambodia has left 15 Thai soldiers dead and 270 others injured, Thailand’s Ministry of Defence spokesman Surasant Kongsiri said at a press conference on Saturday.
Oil prices are rising worldwide as investors assess supply risks linked to growing tensions between the United States and Venezuela after the former seized an oil tanker Skipper on 10 December, a move Caracas calls “international piracy”.
Syria has arrested five people suspected of having links to a deadly attack on a joint U.S.–Syrian convoy in the central town of Palmyra on Saturday, the country’s Interior Ministry said.
The head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, the foreign spy service known as MI6, has warned that Russia "remains an aggressive and expansionist threat", vowing sustained support for Ukraine and calling for greater use of technology to protect UK security.
Odesa residents remained without power for a third straight day on Monday (15 December) after a Russian missile and drone strike crippled the power grid on Saturday (13 December).
Fighting along the Thailand–Cambodia border has entered a fifth consecutive day, despite U.S. President Donald Trump claiming he had brokered a ceasefire between the two sides.
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