Overview

• President Lee Jae-myung and President Donald Trump will meet in Washington on August 25 for their first in-person summit of the term.
• Leaders will frame broad goals on updating defense cooperation, addressing North Korea’s nuclear threats and reinforcing recent trade and tariff agreements.
• A joint principle to transform the U.S.-ROK alliance into a future-oriented strategic partnership has been secured, with technical specifics deferred to expert talks.
• The summit will reaffirm the July trade deal, which imposes a 15 percent tariff on Korean exports in return for $350 billion in Korean investment and $100 billion in U.S. energy imports.
• Agenda items will exclude Taiwan contingency planning and leave issues such as U.S. Forces Korea posture and technology cooperation to subsequent negotiations.