Opinion | Seoul’s useless placation is a warning for all US trade partners

last November for a 10-percentage-point tariff reduction, billing it as a strategic alliance. Barely a year on, the facade has crumbled.

The anxiety gripping Seoul is palpable. Under US pressure, South Korea signed a US$350 billion investment deal

Last month, US President Donald Trump announced

a US$200 billion tranche of the deal with no South Korean official present. Blindsided, Seoul restated its “commercial viability”

clause. Trump’s response was blunt. “If they don’t want to do it, that’s OK with me. I’ll just charge them more,” he told reporters. “Tell them if they don’t sign shortly, I’m going to double it up.”