US expects to finalise trade deal with South Korea within 10 days, says Bessent
WASHINGTON: The United States is close to finalising a trade agreement with South Korea, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday (Oct 15), adding that he expected an announcement in the next 10 days.
“We are about to finish up with Korea,” Bessent told CNBC. “The devil’s in the details, but we are ironing out the details.”
Bessent said US and South Korean officials were meeting this week on the sidelines of the annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington.
Speaking to reporters later on Wednesday, Bessent said he believed disagreements with South Korea over promised investments could soon be resolved.
“I’m sure the differences can be resolved. We are in discussions now, and I would expect something in the next 10 days,” he said.
When asked if Treasury would support establishing a currency swap facility for South Korea, Bessent replied that would be up to the Federal Reserve, but added he was “surprised it doesn’t already exist.”
“If I were Federal Reserve chair, and I’m not, Korea would already have a currency swap facility, as would Singapore,” he said.
BOTH SIDES PUSH TO SEAL DEAL BEFORE APEC SUMMIT
US and South Korean officials are aiming to complete negotiations before the end of October, when Seoul will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. US President Donald Trump is expected to attend the meeting and hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines.
Seoul’s top policy adviser Kim Yong-beom said on Wednesday that both sides had made “meaningful progress” in discussions over US$350 billion (S$475 billion) in investments that South Korea has pledged to make in the United States in exchange for lower trade tariffs. The pledge was first made in a preliminary trade deal announced in July.
In an interview with a YouTube channel, Kim said US negotiators had made a new proposal on how South Korea could implement the investment package, though he gave no details.
President Lee Jae-myung told Reuters last month that South Korea’s economy could face a crisis “rivaling the 1997 meltdown” if the government accepted current US terms without sufficient safeguards.
BESSENT ON JAPAN AND CURRENCY POLICY
Separately, Bessent commented on Japan’s monetary policy, saying the yen would “find its own level” if the Bank of Japan followed “proper policy.”
He made the remarks after noting that Tokyo’s slow pace of interest rate increases had weakened the yen and raised import costs, but added that he expected Japan’s central bank to act responsibly.
