Trump threatens tariff hike on South Korea over stalled trade deal approval

President Trump announced Monday that he would raise tariffs on South Korean goods, escalating pressure on a country whose legislature has not yet ratified a trade framework the two nations agreed to last July. The new levies would hit automobiles, lumber, and pharmaceutical products with steeper rates, while tariffs on most other South Korean imports would climb from 15 percent to 25 percent.

Trump had already imposed the initial tariffs unilaterally by invoking an economic emergency declaration that allowed him to bypass Congress. South Korea, by contrast, needed its national assembly to approve the same deal—a requirement that has stalled. In his announcement, Trump framed the move as a matter of principle: trading partners should move as quickly as the United States had to reduce their own tariffs in line with what both sides had agreed to. "We, of course, expect our Trading Partners to do the same," he said.

The tariff threat arrives as part of a broader pattern. Last week Trump threatened levies on eight European nations unless the United States gained control of Greenland, only to retreat after meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos. On Saturday he warned of a 100 percent tax on Canadian goods if Canada pursued deeper trade ties with China. These moves suggest that tariffs have become Trump's primary tool for bending other nations to his negotiating position, and that 2026 will likely see repeated cycles of threat, disruption, and renegotiation across the global trading system.

The relationship between the United States and South Korea has been uneven. Trump has previously tied his tariff decisions to South Korea's commitment to invest $350 billion in the American economy over several years, including projects to revitalize U.S. shipyards. But tensions surfaced last year when immigration officials raided a Hyundai manufacturing facility in Georgia, detaining 475 people. That incident underscored the friction that can emerge even between allied nations when trade and enforcement collide.

South Korea's presidential office said the country had not received official notification of the tariff increase and indicated it would respond through diplomatic channels. The industry minister, Kim Jung-Kwan, was visiting Canada but would soon travel to the United States to meet with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The presidential chief of staff for policy, Kim Yong-beom, would convene a meeting to discuss Trump's announcement.

Many of Trump's trade deals remain incomplete despite his public promotion of them as vehicles for new American investment. The European Parliament has not yet approved a trade agreement Trump championed that would impose a 15 percent tariff on most goods from the European Union's 27 member states. The United States is also preparing to renegotiate its revised 2020 trade pact with Canada and Mexico this year. Pending as well is a Supreme Court decision on whether Trump exceeded his constitutional authority by declaring tariffs under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act—a legal question that could reshape how future presidents wield trade power.

The pattern suggests that uncertainty will be a defining feature of global commerce in 2026. Each tariff announcement creates pressure on other nations to capitulate or retaliate, each negotiation opens the door to new demands, and each deal remains vulnerable to revision or reversal. For American voters and the global economy, the result is a trading system in constant flux, where the rules can shift with a social media post.