Cheong Wa Dae on the 18th responded to the U.S. administration of Donald Trump announcing a semiconductor-related "tariff proclamation" by saying, "As specified in the Korea-U.S. joint fact sheet, we will consult so that the impact on our corporations can be minimized under the 'no-less-favorable treatment principle.'" It said that during tariff talks with the United States last year, Korea was promised most-favored-nation treatment. However, with the U.S. effectively pressuring Korea and Taiwan with a "100% semiconductor tariff," there are also voices within the government saying "we cannot be at ease."
A Cheong Wa Dae official said, "When we announced the Korea-U.S. joint fact sheet last year, we specified that 'conditions no less favorable than those of major countries' would apply to Korea in the semiconductor area." The official added that the government would closely analyze the semiconductor agreement recently concluded between the United States and Taiwan. The government also said it plans to continuously check the implementation status of what was agreed upon between Korea and the United States.
Cheong Wa Dae plans to receive reports on the matter soon from relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, and to hear the views of corporations. A Cheong Wa Dae official said, "In the process of consulting with the United States, we will continuously check specific matters," adding, "We will also communicate with the industry."
President Trump on the 14th, local time, signed a proclamation imposing a 25% tariff on semiconductor chips imported into the United States and then re-exported to another country. The measure follows a U.S. Commerce Department investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act into the "impact of semiconductor imports on U.S. national security." It aims to levy export duties on products such as Nvidia's artificial intelligence (AI) chip H200 that go through the process of "Taiwan TSCM production → entry into the United States → re-export to China."
The latest U.S. measure is directly tied to pressure to invest in the United States. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on the 16th told major semiconductor-producing countries that if they do not invest in the United States, they will face a "100% semiconductor tariff." According to foreign media including Bloomberg News, Lutnick attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a new plant of U.S. semiconductor corporation Micron near Syracuse, New York, and said, "For everyone who wants to make memory semiconductors, there are two choices: pay a 100% tariff, or produce in the United States."
Bloomberg reported that although no specific country or corporation was named, the comment repeatedly hinted at the possibility of imposing a 100% tariff on Korea and Taiwan, given that they are major semiconductor producers. In connection with this, Yeo Han-koo, head of the Office of the Minister for Trade, met with reporters on his way back from a visit to the United States the previous day and said, "The memory chips that our corporations mainly export are excluded. The impact on Korea is limited," while adding, "We cannot be at ease because we do not know when and in what form the second-stage measures will come out."