U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that Korea's National Assembly has not carried out the legal procedures needed to implement the U.S.-Korea trade agreement and said he would raise tariffs on Korean-made products back to the levels before the trade agreement.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social on the 26th (local time), "The Korean legislature is not honoring the agreement between Korea and the United States," adding, "Accordingly, I am raising reciprocal tariffs (country-by-country tariffs) on automobiles, lumber, pharmaceuticals and all other items from 15% to 25%."
Trump also wrote, "President Lee Jae-myung and I made a great agreement for both countries on July 30, 2025, and I reaffirmed its terms when I was in Korea on Oct. 29, 2025," adding, "Why has the Korean legislature not approved the agreement?"
The approval issue in the National Assembly that Trump mentioned appears to refer to the "special bill for strategic investment management between Korea and the United States," commonly called the special bill on investment in the United States, which must pass the National Assembly to carry out Korea's promised investment in the United States.
The two countries released a joint fact sheet on Nov. 13 after the summit held in Gyeongju on Oct. 29 last year, containing agreements in security and trade. The fact sheet said that on the condition that Korea would make $350 billion in investment in the United States, the United States would lower tariffs on Korean automobiles and support or approve Korea's uranium enrichment and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing, as well as the introduction of nuclear-powered submarines.
The following day, Nov. 14 last year, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on strategic investment between Korea and the United States and agreed to retroactively apply the tariff cut as of the first day of the month when the bill to implement the MOU is submitted to Korea's National Assembly.
Accordingly, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea introduced the special bill on investment in the United States in the National Assembly on Nov. 26 last year, and the United States also retroactively lowered tariffs on Korean automobiles to 15% on Dec. 4 last year with publication in the Federal Register.
However, although Trump cited delays in parliamentary procedures as the direct reason for the tariff hike, some say it is unclear whether this is the only backdrop.
Since the trade agreement, the United States has raised complaints about the amended Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection enacted by Korea's National Assembly and about proposed regulations on online platforms pending in the legislature. On the 23rd, Vice President J.D. Vance was said to have mentioned Coupang's personal data leak to Prime Minister Kim Min-seok during Kim's visit to the United States.