U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, October 29, 2025.
Tyrone Siu | Reuters
President Donald Trump said Monday that he was increasing tariffs on imported autos, pharmaceuticals, and lumber from South Korea from 15% to 25% because of a delay in that country’s legislature approving a trade deal with the United States reached last summer.
“South Korea’s Legislature is not living up to its Deal with the United States,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
“President Lee [Jae Myung] and I reached a Great Deal for both Countries on July 30, 2025, and we reaffirmed these terms while I was in Korea on October 29, 2025. Why hasn’t the Korean Legislature approved it?” Trump asked.
“Because the Korean Legislature hasn’t enacted our Historic Trade Agreement, which is their prerogative, I am hereby increasing South Korean TARIFFS on Autos, Lumber, Pharma, and all other Reciprocal TARIFFS, from 15% to 25%,” he wrote.
CNBC has requested comment from South Korea’s embassy in Washington, D.C., on Trump’s announcement.
South Korean-based automaker Hyundai Motor is the largest importer of new vehicles from that country into the United States.
In the trade deal announced in July, Trump said the U.S. would impose blanket tariffs of 15% on imports from South Korea, 10 percentage points lower than the level he had threatened earlier that same month.
Trump also said at the same time that South Korea had agreed to “give to the United States $350 Billion Dollars for Investments owned and controlled by the United States, and selected by myself, as President.”
The U.S. Supreme Court in November heard arguments in a case challenging the legality of Trump’s unilaterally imposed tariffs, with justices expressing skepticism that he had the power to levy such duties without authorization of Congress.
The Supreme Court has yet to issue its decision in that case.
