Ahn Deuk Geun, South Korea's Minister of Trade and Industry, said that he had met with U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer on Friday and requested a waiver for Washington's tariffs.

Ahn said that the South Korean delegation will visit the United States for technical discussions as part of the tariff negotiations next week, which is expected to focus on non-tariff barriers and balanced trade among other issues.

The bilateral meeting took place on the island of Jeju, South Korea. It was part of a two-day trade ministers' gathering from 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation grouping.

The second round of senior-level negotiations between South Korea, and the United States, followed the first round held jointly in late April with South Korean Finance minister Choi Sangmok, and U.S. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent. They agreed to create a trade package before July.

The package will likely include four major areas: economic security, currency policy, and investment cooperation. South Korea, while praising cooperation in shipbuilding for its importance in negotiations, has denied that the defence costs of some 28,500 U.S. soldiers stationed there will be included.

Choi and Han Duck-soo both resigned a week following the April meeting. This raised questions about the progress of the trade negotiations.

The interim leader of South Korea is currently the Education Minister until a new President is elected on 3 June.

Seoul, which was soon after Japan, held face-to-face discussions with Washington in April, shortly after U.S. president Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on South Korea.

In an interview last week with Bloomberg News, U.S. Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick stated that the trade deals with both Asian allies will not be "fast deals".

Washington is ready to continue the interim talks given the wide range of interests which could be addressed by a potential negotiated deal, said Jay Truesdale. He's a former U.S. Diplomat and CEO of TD International.

Truesdale noted that Trump's desire to win quickly was reflected in his recent trade negotiations with Britain and China.

The U.S. Tariffs have increased the downside risks of this year's forecasted economic growth of 1.5%, according to South Korea's Central Bank. (Reporting and editing by Jihoon Park, Ju-min Lee)

(source: Reuters)