Trump says US has 'great' relationship with S. Korea after trade deal

Washington, Aug 2 (IANS) US President Donald Trump has said that the United States has a "great" relationship with South Korea, after Seoul and Washington reached a trade deal earlier this week following months of gruelling tariff negotiations.

Trump made the remarks during a press availability, responding to a reporter's question about his anticipated summit with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, which he said will take place at the White House in two weeks.

"We have a great relationship with South Korea," Trump said tersely, reports Yonhap news agency.

On Wednesday, Trump announced the trade deal, under which his administration agreed to lower "reciprocal" tariffs on Korea to 15 percent from the proposed 25 percent in return for Korea's investment commitments and other pledges.

He also said that his South Korean counterpart will visit the White House in two weeks. Seoul's Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said later that talks are underway to coordinate and set a summit date.

Meanwhile, the South Korean government reaffirmed that its trade deal with the United States does not include further opening of the country's rice market to American products. "The Korea-U.S. trade deal did not cover the rice issue," the finance, industry and agriculture ministries said in a joint press release.

The announcement came after White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the trade deal provides market access to American goods, including rice, which reiterated U.S. President Donald Trump's earlier claim on agricultural market access.

On Thursday, the two countries struck an agreement under which the U.S. lowered its reciprocal tariff rate for South Korea to 15 percent from the initially proposed 25 percent in return for Seoul's pledge to invest US$350 billion in the world's largest economy and purchase $100 billion worth of American liquefied natural gas and other energy products over the next four years.

The U.S. administration had reportedly pressured Seoul to further open up its rice and beef markets, raising issue with Korea's import ban on American beef products from cattle aged 30 months or older.

—IANS

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