South Korea said it will seek favorable treatment under U.S. tariffs on memory chip imports, a presidential office spokesperson said Sunday, as Washington moves ahead with new trade measures targeting advanced semiconductors.
Speaking at a televised briefing, the spokesperson said Seoul last year issued a joint fact sheet with the United States as part of their trade framework, which included provisions ensuring South Korea would not face less favorable tariff treatment on chip exports compared with key competitors. The remarks came in response to questions about the Trump administration’s recent proclamation imposing tariffs on certain artificial intelligence and advanced computing chips.
The spokesperson emphasized that South Korea will use the existing bilateral framework to argue for exemptions or preferential terms, particularly for memory chips, an area where Korean firms hold a dominant global position.
On Saturday, South Korea’s trade minister sought to play down the potential fallout, saying the impact of U.S. tariffs on some advanced computing chips would be limited for South Korean companies. He noted that memory chips, which account for a large share of Korea’s semiconductor exports, differ from the logic and AI processors that appear to be the primary focus of Washington’s measures.
South Korea is home to two of the world’s largest memory chipmakers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which together dominate global markets for DRAM and NAND flash memory. Semiconductors are the country’s top export, making any change in U.S. trade policy toward chips a closely watched issue in Seoul.
The Trump administration has argued that tariffs on advanced chips are necessary to protect U.S. national security and bolster domestic semiconductor production. However, U.S. allies, including South Korea, have been seeking assurances that their companies will not be caught up in measures aimed primarily at strategic competitors.
South Korean officials said discussions with Washington are ongoing and stressed the importance of maintaining stable supply chains and predictable trade rules in the semiconductor sector.
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