Overview

• Both sides reaffirmed the July bargain featuring a 15% blanket U.S. tariff on Korean goods alongside pledges of roughly $350 billion in Korean investment and $100 billion in U.S. energy purchases.
• Korean conglomerates added about $150 billion in new U.S. investment pledges timed to the summit.
• Economic cooperation took center stage in shipbuilding and U.S. manufacturing, with Lee backing a “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again” push.
• The leaders endorsed alliance “modernization,” leaving unresolved mechanics on defense cost-sharing, command roles, potential U.S. land-title demands and possible “strategic flexibility” for U.S. forces in Korea.
• Trump said he is open to meeting Kim Jong-un within the year, following a tense pre-summit social post that Lee countered with calibrated flattery to steady the meeting.