U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says the Trump administration may not need to impose tariffs on imported cars later this month.
He revealed that Washington has had "good conversations" with a number of nations, including South Korea.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
Speaking to Bloomberg Television on Sunday at the ASEAN plus Three Summit in Bangkok,... U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Washington may delay plans to put auto tariffs on a number of countries,... after holding what he called "good conversations" with them.
South Korea was earlier exempted from any future tariffs after renegotiating the South Korea-U.S. FTA last year.
The U.S. also struck a deal with Japan last month,... but the EU has yet to reach an agreement with the deadline looming.
However, Ross remained optimistic a deal will be reached.
This comes as the Trump administration agreed to delay new tariffs on imported cars and parts for six months in May,... as it continued negotiations.
President Trump must decide whether to impose tariffs of five to fifteen percent by November 17th,... but Ross says it may be unnecessary in light of the negotiations.
However, if Trump proceeds with the measures,... it would cause a massive escalation in the U.S.-EU trade conflict,... with German automakers like Mercedes-Benz and BMW taking the biggest hit.
Experts says such tariffs would significantly increase car prices in the United States,... and potentially lead to hundreds of thousands of jobs falling by the wayside in the U.S.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.