Trump must be careful about pressuring Seoul, or his administration could push Lee Jae-myung to move South Korea closer to China.

Japan and South Korea, the United States’ closest security allies in Asia and key partners in its effort to counter China, were sent scrambling Tuesday after the U.S. president renewed his threat to impose steep tariffs on their goods,

President Donald Trump will impose 25% tariffs on Japan and South Korea next month, prolonging the “Liberation Day” duty pause on those two allies amid trade negotiations. Trump announced the tariffs in letters to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Monday.

By Jeff Mason, Bart H. Meijer and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump opened a new phase on Monday in the trade war he launched this year, telling partners, from powerhouse suppliers such as Japan and South Korea to minor players,

While South Korean imports to the U.S. face 25% tariffs, the same as Trump promised in April, the rate on Japan has been raised by 1 percentage point to 25%.

President Trump's newly announced 25% tariffs on goods from South Korea and Japan closely reflect tariffs for each nation that Trump had announced on April 2, before implementing a 90-day pause that was set to expire Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — U.S. markets saw steep drops as President Donald Trump began announcing unilateral 25% tariffs on all imports from key trading partners Japan and South Korea shortly after noon Monday. Hours later, he announced additional tariffs ranging from 25% to 40% on Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and South Africa.

In letters so far to 14 countries, including smaller exporters to the United States such as Serbia, Thailand and Tunisia, Trump hinted at opportunities for additional negotiations, even while warning that reprisals would draw a like-for-like response.

South Korea, the United States and Japan held trilateral ministerial talks at a multilateral gathering in Malaysia on Friday to discuss coordination on key shared regional and global issues, Seoul officials said.