Donald Trump has increased tariffs on South Korean imports from 15% to 25%—just three months after the celebrated trade agreement. Affected: autos, pharma, timber.
His allegation: South Korea’s parliament is not ratifying the deal fast enough.
Source: Truth Social
Immediately following Trump’s post, there was a market tremor in Seoul: Hyundai shares dropped by 4% and Kia shares by 3.5%. The subsidiary Hyundai Mobis even lost 5%.
A reminder: The October deal
At the APEC summit in Gyeongju, Trump and President Lee agreed:
- South Korea invests $350 billion in the US (primarily shipbuilding)
- The US lowers tariffs from 25% to 15%
- South Korean chips should not be treated worse than Taiwanese ones.
Since Seoul has not yet passed the legislation, Trump is now returning to the original punitive rate.
Next escalation: 100% on chips?
Commerce Secretary Lutnick threatened last week: "Anyone who wants to sell memory chips in the US pays 100% tariff or builds in America."
Samsung and SK Hynix control 60% of the global market, which gives Seoul bargaining power.
👉🏻 Because: SK Hynix's High-Bandwidth Memory is indispensable for AI—and is already sold out for 2026.
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