Trump: "Korea and Japan Exploited the US with Past FTA... Correcting It Through Renegotiation"

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated on the 3rd (local time) that South Korea and Japan were exploiting the United States due to flawed Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) from previous administrations, and claimed that he corrected this.

President Trump made these remarks during a speech to the National Association of Counties, referring to his economic achievements. He said, "We are overturning trade policies that have destroyed many communities and caused disasters for decades," emphasizing, "You know better than anyone in this country how bad it was."

President Trump stated, "We have successfully reached new trade agreements with South Korea and Japan," and described the previous trade agreements as "really exploiting us." He mentioned that during the 2016 presidential election, his opponent, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, said the FTA with South Korea would create 250,000 jobs and that "we want this agreement." He added, "She was right for South Korea," implying that South Korea, not the U.S., created those 250,000 jobs.

When laughter broke out in the audience, President Trump said, "This is true. We gave 250,000 to South Korea," and sarcastically added, "You can't say Hillary misled us. She only said 250,000." He continued, "It was a terrible deal, and we completely renegotiated with South Korea," emphasizing, "Now it is a good deal for the United States and a fairer agreement."

Earlier, President Trump had touted the revision of the Korea-U.S. FTA as one of his achievements, making similar claims. Although outlets like The New York Times (NYT) criticized the "250,000 jobs" claim as baseless, President Trump has repeated the same statement.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.