Ok, so if you were going to make a list of things that Donald Trump should definitely not do right now, “start trade war with South Korea” would probably be somewhere close the top.
You know, maybe right below “nuke North Korea” and right above “shut down the government until Congress funds the border wall.”
After all, just about the last thing Seoul needs, given the ongoing tension with Pyongyang, is any kind of rift with Washington, even if that rift isn’t tied to military support.
But this is Donald Trump we’re talking about and so it should come as no surprise that he’s set to withdrawal from the United States’ free-trade agreement with South Korea.
- TRUMP PREPARING WITHDRAWAL FROM SKOREA TRADE DEAL
“No, really” – and “yes, now”. Here’s WaPo:
President Trump has instructed advisers to prepare a withdrawal from the United States’ free-trade agreement with South Korea, several people close to the process said, a move that would stoke economic tensions with the U.S. ally at a time both countries confront a crisis over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
While it is still possible Trump could decide to stay in the agreement in order to renegotiate its terms, the internal preparations for terminating the deal are far along and the formal withdrawal process could begin as soon as this coming week, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Needless to say, not everyone is pleased with this decision or if they’re ok with it, they’re not ok with the timing. As WaPo goes on to write, H.R. McMaster, Jim Mattis, and Gary Cohn are all trying to change the President’s mind.
The deal in question was inked in 2007 and went into effect in 2012.
If the situation (which isn’t really a “situation” as much as it is Trump creating problems where there are none in order to appease his base) can’t be resolved and Trump does indeed pull the proverbial trigger, we could see an increase in tariffs against South Korean electronics and phones and Seoul would of course respond in kind.
So here we are, with Trump so desperate to make good on his campaign promises about making “better deals” that he’s going to jeopardize America’s relationship with South Korea at the worst possible time for Seoul.
And that as he threatens to rip up NAFTA.
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This man’s timing it seems is always bad, he doesn’t or can’t pay attention because his lack of knowledge about issues requires study and at the very least reading about what you are going to talk about. Ok, lets alienate China, S. Korea, Russia and Japan, sure who would need any of those loser countries in that part of the world right now?
Commenter, was there some reason you said Japan?