South Korea sees room for cooperation with Taiwan on US chip tariffs, trade minister says

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SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea sees room for cooperation with Taiwan on U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on chips, the country’s trade minister said on Monday.

“Taiwan is also in negotiations, so there is room for South Korea and Taiwan to get the most favourable treatment through cooperation,” Minister for Trade Yeo Han-koo said in a radio interview.

South Korea finalised this month a trade deal to reduce U.S. tariffs in return for large South Korean investments in U.S. strategic sectors, while Taiwan’s trade negotiations are in progress.

In the trade deal with South Korea, the U.S. said semiconductor tariffs on the Asian country would be “no less favourable than terms that may be offered in a future agreement covering a volume of semiconductor trade at least as large as South Korea’s.”

That refers to key competitor Taiwan, South Korean officials have said.

U.S. officials are privately saying that they might not levy long-promised semiconductor tariffs soon, potentially delaying a centrepiece of Trump’s economic agenda, Reuters reported last week.

A South Korean official declined to confirm if there had been any specific discussion with Taiwan on the matter.

South Korea’s exports of semiconductors to the U.S. rose 51.2% to $1.2 billion in October amid growing demand for advanced chips used for artificial intelligence, according to customs data.

(Reporting by Heejin Kim and Jihoon LeeEditing by Ed Davies)