Trade Minister Cheong In-kyo speaks at a briefing session on the trade policies of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration held in Seoul, in this photo provided by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, March 20. Yonhap
Korean export industries called for government efforts to minimize the impact of the United States' reciprocal tariffs to be announced next week and measures to protect the domestic market from unfair trade activities, the industry ministry said Tuesday.
Officials from major export companies in the automotive, steel, solar power, home appliances and other industries made the call in a meeting with Trade Minister Cheong In-kyo, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The meeting was held to discuss Korea's response strategy ahead of the plan by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to announce country-by-country reciprocal tariffs April 2.
In the meeting, the business leaders asked the government to engage in "active" negotiations with the U.S. administration to minimize the upcoming reciprocal tariffs' impact on Seoul's exports.
They also called for measures to protect the domestic industries from an expected increase of unfairly cheap products flowing into the Korean market due to hefty U.S. duties.
"Through ministerial-level meetings, the government has been delivering our concerns to the U.S. administration and plans to continue negotiating with Washington to protect the interests of our companies," Cheong said.
He also said the government will "sternly" respond to unfair trade attempts of foreign countries by strengthening the power of the Korea Trade Commission, bolstering monitoring on imports and revising laws to prevent the circumvention of anti-dumping duties.
He added the government will hold regular meetings with exporting companies to discuss trade uncertainties. (Yonhap)
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