According to Reuters, the US and South Korea agreed on Monday (March 27th, 2018) to revise the KORUS bilateral free trade deal. As part of the deal, South Korea would improve access to U.S. automakers and in exchange the US would exempt Korean steel from the new Section 232 duty rates.

President Trump has always claimed the current KORUS agreement was “horrible” and lead to a doubling of the U.S. goods trade deficit with South Korea since 2012. While the terms have not yet been announced, the agreement likely makes South Korea is the first US ally to receive an indefinite exemption but still subject to quotas.

In addition to South Korea, Trump has temporarily excluded other major US trading partners Canada, Mexico, Australia and the European Union from higher U.S. import duties on steel and aluminium.

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