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Seoul warns MASGA project at risk as $350 bn fund talks with Washington stall - KED Global [kedglobal.com]:

Seoul warns MASGA project at risk as $350 bn fund talks with Washington stall South Korea will not hasten an agreement on the fund’s launch merely to secure lower tariffs on automobiles, top policy official says Hyung-Kyun Kim and Ri-Ahn Kim4 2025-09-09 21:41:25 kkk@hankyung.com [mailto]Business & Politics
South Korea’s negotiations with the US over the launch of a $350 billion US investment fund has made little progress, a senior presidential official said on Tuesday, warning that the deadlock could derail its contribution to revitalizing the US shipbuilding sector.

Kim Yong-beom, presidential chief of staff for policy, said at a forum hosted by the Korea Broadcasting Journalists Club that the government will not rush into an agreement with Washington on details over the fund’s launch merely to secure lower tariffs on automobiles.

Under the tariff dea [kedglobal.com]l reached with Washington in July, Seoul pledged to create a $350 billion fund to invest in the US. 

Of the total, $150 billion was earmarked for projects tied to the Make American Shipbuilding Great Again (MASGA) initiative. The shipbuilding fund played a central role in their tariff agreement.

“We are addressing to the US side that the question of how to raise $350 billion in the foreign exchange market and operate it must be addressed as a priority,” Kim said during the forum.

The presidential policy chief added that Seoul is seeking cooperation from Washington to mitigate potential shocks from the fund creation to the domestic foreign exchange market.

“Without an agreement between the two countries, our MASGA project will be difficult to launch," he said.


PRESSURE TO LAUNCH $350 BN FUND?

His remarks come after the US immigration agents last week raided [kedglobal.com] the construction site of an electric vehicle battery joint venture between Hyundai Motor Co. and LG Energy Solution Ltd. in Georgia and detained 475 employees, including 300 Koreans, mostly LG Energy staff, at a detention center in Folkston.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) alleged that many of those detained were fraudulently using visitor visas to work at the site.

However, South Korean business analysts saw the surprise raid as US pressure on Seoul to formalize the $350 billon fund.

In the wake of the detention of 300 Korean nationals, at least 22 other factory sites involving Korean business groups, in autos, shipbuilding, steel and electrical equipment, have been nearly halted [kedglobal.com], according to sources with knowledge of the matter on Monday.

TARIFF CUTS ON JAPANESE CARS FROM SEPT. 16

The raid by the US authorities on the Hyundai-LG Energy JV came just as US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to cut tariffs on automobiles imported from Japan to 15% from 27.5%. The executive order is expected to take effect on Sept. 16.

However, the US continues to impose a 25% tariff on South Korea-made automobiles.

Korean automakers may remain at a competitive disadvantage over Japanese rivals in the world's largest market.

“We cannot rush into an agreement to narrow the tariff gap in the auto industry, given its significant shock to the broader economy,” the presidential policy chief noted.


NO CONSIDERATION OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN KOREA AND JAPAN

Kim said the draft US trade agreement terms presented to South Korea and to Japan are not significantly different.

He pointed out that the terms did not reflect the differences in economic scale and foreign exchange market conditions between the two countries, adding: "No Korean citizen could reasonably support signing that draft as it is.”

The Japanese yen is a reserve currency and Japan’s foreign exchange reserves are three times larger than South Korea’s. Japan also maintains an unlimited currency swap arrangement with the US.

By comparison, South Korea can mobilize up to $30 billion annually from the domestic foreign currency market. The ceiling is unlikely to rise without a currency swap agreement with the US.


Last month, the summit between South Korean President Lee Jae Myung with Trump concluded in a cordial atmosphere.

But it failed to yield a joint statement [kedglobal.com] amid differences over reducing US levies on Korean automobiles and autoparts from 25% to 15%, as well as over granting South Korea most-favored-nation (MFN) status.

The MFN status will ensure South Korean semiconductor and pharmaceutical products are subject to the same tariff rates as those from Europe and Japan.

DEPORTATION OF KOREAN WORKERS?

On Monday, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said foreign workers detained in last week’s immigration raid in Georgia will be “deported, [kedglobal.com]" even as Seoul is negotiating with Washington to allow hundreds of South Korean nationals to return home under “voluntary departure.”

Write to Hyung-Kyun Kim and Ri-Ahn Kim at kkk@hankyung.com [mailto]


Yeonhee Kim edited this article.#MASGA [kedglobal.com]#UStariffs [kedglobal.com]#USSouthKorea [kedglobal.com]#DonaldTrump [kedglobal.com]#MakeAmericanShipbuildingGreatAgain [kedglobal.com]#tariffsonautomobiles [kedglobal.com] US says Georgia detainees will be ‘deported’ as Seoul sends charter plane to retrieve Koreans for ‘voluntary departure’ [kedglobal.com]

Korean foreign ministry officials head to the ICE detention facility in Folkston, Georgia, where hundreds of workers of the Hyundai Motor-LG Energy joint battery plant are held The US homeland security secretary has said foreign workers detained in last week’s immigration raid in Georgia

Korea’s major US investment projects halted as detained LG Energy workers set for release [kedglobal.com]

Construction equipment is parked in front of the Hyundai Motor-LG Energy Solution joint battery plant in Ellabell, Georgia, following the US raid on the facility on Sept. 4, 2025 (KED file photo) ELLABELL, Georgia – The South Korean government has secured the release of about 300 national

S.Korean firms to overhaul US workforce supply, see delays, higher costs [kedglobal.com]

Workers are raided and detained at a Hyundai Motor-LG Energy Solution battery JV in the US state of Georgia  South Korean companies building plants in the US are reassessing their projects and overhauling workforce supply after US authorities last week detained some 300 Korean workers in a

US raid on Hyundai-LG plant seen as 2026 midterm gambit [kedglobal.com]

ICE leads a multi-agency operation at the construction site of the Hyundai Motor-LG Energy JV plant in Georgia on Sept. 6, 2025 (Courtesy of ICE) NEW YORK – A surprise raid by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a Hyundai-LG battery plant project in Georgia may be part of the

S.Korea-US summit yields no joint statement amid split on auto tariffs, MFN status [kedglobal.com]

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (left) in the Oval Office at the White House on Aug. 25, 2025 WASHINGTON D.C. – South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s first bilateral meeting with US counterpart Donald Trump ended in a cordial atmosphere on Monday, with both leaders agreeing to

HD Hyundai Heavy to merge with Hyundai Mipo as MASGA gains traction [kedglobal.com]

HD Hyundai Heavy's shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. said on Wednesday that it will merge with HD Hyundai Mipo Co., marking its first step to tap into the Make America Shipbuilding Great Again (MASGA) initiative.The merger is aimed at transforming Mipo’s docks

Hanwha raises bet on MASGA with $5 bn investment in Philly Shipyard [kedglobal.com]

Kim Dong-kwan (far right), vice chairman of Hanwha Group, gives a welcome speech at Hanwha Philly Shipyard on Aug. 26, 2025 (Courtesy of Hanwha Group) Hanwha Group will expand its shipbuilding capacity in the US far beyond earlier plans with a $5 billion investment in Hanwha Philly Shipyard as

South Korea, US agree to 15% tariff rate; shipbuilding central to deal [kedglobal.com]

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung (left) took office on June 4, 2025 South Korea and the United States have reached a trade agreement setting the new US tariff rate at 15%, down from the previously announced 25%, with revitalizing the US shipbuilding sector at the center of the agenda.Under

HD Hyundai Heavy wins US Navy ship MRO deal, 1st under MASGA accord [kedglobal.com]

The USNS Alan Shepard, a US Navy cargo ship to undergo an MRO project by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., one of the world’s leading shipbuilders, has secured its first-ever maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) contract for a US Navy vessel – a mileston

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Trump’s ICE Just Wrecked Massive Business Investment Deal for the U.S. [newrepublic.com]:

A special election in Virginia has put the House one step closer to releasing the Epstein files.

James Walkinshaw’s win in Virginia’s 11th congressional district on Tuesday night has given Democrats another vote [prospect.org] in the lower chamber, shrinking a razor-thin Republican majority that has so far obstructed attempts to bring transparency to records related to the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.

The Virginian’s blowout victory will push the party breakdown [house.gov] to 219 Republicans and 213 Democrats in the House, a margin so tight that House Republicans will only be able to lose two votes on any legislation they hope to pass through the chamber. But three other vacancies—in Arizona, Texas, and Tennessee—threaten to further erode a conservative grip on the House.

Two of those special elections are almost certain to be Democratic victories. They include the races to fill seats left by Texas Democratic Representative Sylvester Turner, who passed away March 5, and Texas Democratic Representative Raul Grijalva, who died just days later, on March 13. Walkinshaw, who will replace Gerry Connolly, was the first Democrat to win a special election since Donald Trump returned to office in January.

So far, House Speaker Mike Johnson has blocked bipartisan attempts to make the Epstein files public. But if supporters of the movement can muster 218 votes in the House, they can circumvent Johnson altogether, sending the motion to the Senate.

Some notable House Republicans have already joined hands with dozens of their Democratic counterparts in a bipartisan effort [congress.gov] to make the Epstein case files publicly available.

Introduced by Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who has a habit of actually standing up to Trump, the bill aims to “make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Attorneys’ Offices” relating to Epstein and his longtime girlfriend and sex-trafficking associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.

The text of the bill specifies the release of flight logs, travel records, the names of individuals and government officials connected to Epstein’s “criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity or plea agreements, or investigatory proceedings,” the names of corporations or organizations tied to Epstein’s trafficking networks, potential immunity deals or sealed settlements, as well as “internal DOJ communications.”

Republican Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Elijah Crane, Tim Burchett, Nancy Mace, and many others have already signed their support for the bill.

Read more about Epstein:Epstein Survivor Reveals Drawing in Birthday Book Happened to Her [newrepublic.com]Most Recent Post

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