Overview

• A South Korean working‑level team wrapped up meetings with USTR and the Commerce Department in Washington and returned home, with both sides still hashing out the $350 billion investment’s structure and profit sharing.
• Presidential policy chief Kim Yong‑beom said negotiations are at an impasse and requested U.S. options to cap the investment’s impact on the dollar‑won market.
• U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told negotiators that 90% of profits from Korea’s U.S. investments would accrue to Americans, a position Seoul officials objected to.
• Japan’s deal was formally implemented last week with a 15% U.S. auto tariff, but the U.S. has not yet lowered auto tariffs for South Korea, and Seoul argues its FX conditions differ from Japan’s.
• The Korean side raised the detention of 300‑plus Korean workers at a Georgia battery plant and discussed non‑tariff issues, while U.S. officials pressed Seoul to move first on the investment package.