Korea Says US to Honor 15% Tariff Cap Despite New Section 301 Duties

South Korea's trade ministry said Friday that Washington has reaffirmed it will keep the overall tariff burden on Korean exports within the previously agreed 15 percent ceiling, even after the United States rolled out a fresh round of Section 301 duties targeting dozens of trading partners.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said it had pressed US officials to honor the terms of the tariff agreement struck between Seoul and Washington last year, which set a 15 percent cap on reciprocal tariffs for Korean goods. In a statement, the ministry said Washington "reaffirmed its position that the existing trade agreement must be upheld," easing concerns that the new levies might stack on top of the earlier deal.

The reassurance came after Washington announced overnight new forced-labor tariffs of between 10 and 12.5 percent on imports from roughly 60 trading partners, invoking Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act. The move followed the expiration of temporary 10 percent global tariffs that had been in place since the US Supreme Court struck down the Trump administration's earlier reciprocal tariff scheme in February. Under the new arrangement, South Korea faces a 12.5 percent duty, the same rate applied to Japan and Switzerland.

Ahead of the announcement, Korean officials led by Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan held bilateral talks with US counterparts, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, to press the case that any new Section 301 tariffs must stay within the 15 percent limit set out in the existing bilateral agreement. Seoul's ministry said it expects the latest US announcement to reduce some of the uncertainty that has clouded trade policy since the Supreme Court ruling.

The United States remains South Korea's second-largest trading partner, with Korean exports to the US reaching $122.9 billion last year against $73.4 billion in imports, according to the ministry.

Seoul officials cautioned that a separate Section 301 investigation into global industrial overproduction is still under way, and the government pledged to actively engage with US authorities throughout that process. The ministry added it would continue close consultations with Washington to preserve "the balance of interests" secured under the existing tariff arrangement.