South Korea's new President Lee Jae Myung will travel to Washington later this month to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, Lee's office said on Tuesday (August 12, 2025), for talks on trade and defence cooperation in the face of nuclear-armed North Korea and other threats.
Their August 25 summit will follow a July trade deal in which Washington agreed to cut its reciprocal tariff on South Korea to 15% from the initially proposed 25% and to apply the same reduced rate to South Korean cars, the country's top export to the United States.
South Korea also agreed to purchase $100 billion in U.S. energy and invest $350 billion in the country, and the leaders could use their meeting to discuss expanding cooperation in key industries such as semiconductors, batteries and shipbuilding, Lee's spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said.
The meeting also comes amid concerns in Seoul that the Trump administration could shake up the decades-old alliance by demanding higher payments for the US troop presence in South Korea and possibly move to reduce it as Washington shifts more focus on China.
Mr. Lee and Mr. Trump will discuss strengthening the allies' defence posture against growing North Korean threats, and also developing the partnership into a “future-oriented, comprehensive strategic alliance” to address the changing international security and economic environment, according to Kang, who didn't elaborate on the specific issues to be addressed.
