Seoul’s Coupang shakedown is testing US-Korea momentum

The U.S.-South Korea relationship is one of the most important in the world. President Donald Trump would very much seem to agree. Hours before he and President Lee Jae-myung sealed their trade and security framework in Gyeongju in October, Trump hailed the two countries’ “special bond.” That framework — $350 billion in Korean investment into the United States, tariffs cut to 15%, new shipbuilding cooperation, and a green light for Korea to build nuclear-powered submarines on American soil — is one of the signature trade accomplishments of this administration’s term.

Done right, the U.S.-Korea trade framework locks in American jobs, strengthens our industrial base, and tightens the alliance against China for a generation.