Executive Branch

Trump Signals Tough Trade Talks With South Korean Leader, Rules Out Renegotiation

Seoul has proposed a $150 billion investment plan called Make American Shipbuilding Great Again as part of a new trade deal.
Trump Signals Tough Trade Talks With South Korean Leader, Rules Out Renegotiation
(Left) U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Aug. 18, 2025. (Right) South Korean President Lee Jae Myung attends a news conference in Seoul, South Korea, on July 3, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times, Kim Min-Hee/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Emel Akan
Emel Akan
Reporter
|Updated:
0:00

WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed South Korea’s newly elected president, Lee Jae Myung, to the White House on Aug. 25 to discuss trade, investment, and defense collaboration. Ahead of the meeting, Trump commented on Seoul’s push to renegotiate a recently finalized trade deal.

“I hear they want to renegotiate the deal, but that’s OK. I don’t mind that,” Trump said in the Oval Office, sitting alongside Lee. “That doesn’t mean they’re going to get anything, but I don’t mind.”

Emel Akan
Emel Akan
Reporter
Emel Akan is a senior White House correspondent for The Epoch Times, where she covers the policies of the Trump administration. Previously, she reported on the Biden administration and the first term of President Trump. Before her journalism career, she worked in investment banking at JPMorgan. She holds an MBA from Georgetown University.
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