Trump says he will raise tariffs on South Korea

 President Donald Trump threatened to increase tariffs on South Korean exports because the country had not ratified a trade deal with the United States quickly enough.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump faulted Korea’s National Assembly for not approving a trade deal that he had reached with the president of South Korea on July 30.

“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%,” the president said.

As of Monday evening, the White House had not yet issued an executive order to implement the change in tariffs.

The president imposed a 25% tariff on all South Korean exports last year. He then agreed to lower that to 15% in a framework trade deal he announced with President Lee Jae-myung in July. But the two governments continued to spar over the details of the agreement, including a commitment by South Korea to invest in the United States. While the United States sought a cash investment of hundreds of billions of dollars, Korean officials were concerned that a deal of that magnitude was not economically feasible.

The two sides appeared to make progress in October, when Trump visited South Korea and was lavished with gilded gifts, including a replica of a historical crown. That month, the Korean government confirmed that it had reached an agreement with the United States on the details of the deal, under which it agreed to invest up to $20 billion annually, while setting aside an additional $150 billion to invest in U.S. shipbuilding operations.

To implement the trade deal, South Korea was required to pass the bill through its National Assembly.

On Tuesday, the South Korean government said that the United States had not officially informed it of Trump’s decision to increase tariffs or shared any details regarding the matter. Lee’s office said its senior officials planned to hold a meeting Tuesday morning to discuss Trump’s announcement. South Korea’s trade minister, Kim Jung-Kwan, who was visiting Canada, planned to travel to the United States soon to meet Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, it said.

The Trump administration has announced limited trade deals with more than 10 countries, although some of those deals have encountered difficulties. A trade framework negotiated with the European Union, for example, was put on pause recently after Trump threatened European nations with tariffs unless they gave the United States the Danish territory of Greenland. Although Trump later stepped back from that tariff threat, the trade agreement still requires the approval of the European Parliament.

The legal authority that Trump has relied on to impose tariffs on South Korea and other nations, a 1970s emergency law known as the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, is currently under review at the Supreme Court.

The court is expected to issue a decision in the coming months about whether Trump exceeded his authority in using that act to impose tariffs globally. If it rules that he has acted illegally, the president may have to rely on other tariff laws that do not allow him to raise and lower tariffs so suddenly.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.