Overview

• Negotiators failed to agree on a joint text after clashes over a 15% tariff ceiling for key exports and the schedule and structure of Korea’s pledged investments, leaving autos facing steep U.S. duties for now.
• Korean conglomerates announced an additional $150 billion in U.S. investment as Seoul also earmarked $150 billion for a shipbuilding initiative highlighted by Lee’s visit to Hanwha’s Philadelphia yard.
• Seoul and Washington reported broad consensus on “alliance modernization,” and President Lee signaled higher defense spending, but details on USFK posture, strategic flexibility and wartime control remain unsettled.
• North Korea’s KCNA denounced Lee as a “hypocrite” over his denuclearization remarks and reaffirmed Pyongyang’s stance that its nuclear status is irreversible.
• A Realmeter survey found 53.1% of South Koreans viewed the Lee–Trump summit positively, with assessments split along ideological and generational lines.