President Trump plans to pressure South Korean President Moon Jae-in to make trade concessions when they meet Friday, while at the same…
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President Trump plans to pressure South Korean President Moon Jae-in to make trade concessions when they meet Friday, while at the same time seeking closer cooperation against North Korea’s accelerating nuclear program.
Both aims, outlined Wednesday by a senior administration official, could make for some difficult discussions, especially since the newly elected Moon campaigned for a softer approach to the government in Pyongyang.
Moon, who arrived Wednesday in Washington, began his four-day visit by laying a wreath at a memorial at Marine Corps Base Quantico in northern Virginia to the U. S. Marines who died during the Korean War in the battle at Chosin Reservoir.
Trump will host Moon and his wife, Kim Joon-suk, for dinner at the White House on Thursday before the two leaders meet one-on-one in the Oval Office on Friday morning.
Having criticized the two countries’ trade agreement when he was running for president, Trump will argue for a more balanced trade relationship, the administration official said in a background briefing. In particular, Trump will cite the large amount of Chinese steel that is sometimes processed in South Korea before being sold cheaply in the U. S. market.
The two leaders will have a “friendly, frank discussion about the trade imbalance between South Korea and the United States, ” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Seoul’s trade surplus is “shrinking, ” the official added, but “there is still a large gap.”
The visit will mark the first time the two leaders have met since the liberal Moon took office last month after the ouster of President Park Geun-hye, a scandal-tarred conservative who had taken a hard line against North Korea.
Trump and Moon share “precisely the same goal, ” the Trump aide said — “the complete dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear program.”
But the approach of the two leaders is starkly different. Trump has called for «maximum pressure» against North Korea, seeking additional economic sanctions and demanding that China, North Korea’s main ally and patron, do more to shut off assistance to Pyongyang.
Moon has risen through the ranks of his country’s politics advocating for closer ties between the Koreas, which technically are still at war. Already he has taken steps to delay the deployment of the U. S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, known as THAAD, an anti-missile system intended to counter any North Korean strikes.
The anti-missile system is a divisive issue in South Korea; it prompted protests last weekend at the U. S. Embassy in Seoul. China has objected to installation of the powerful radar defense as well, but the White House believes the U. S. system will ultimately be fully operative.
The delay “should not be equated as a reversal of the decision to deploy THAAD, ” the official said, and suggested that the topic would not be central to the two presidents’ discussions.
“As important as anything [will be] building a rapport and getting to know each other, ” the official said.
