South Korean trade talks 'may be moving faster' than expected: US Treasury chief

​​​​​​​WASHINGTON

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that trade talks with South Korea "may be moving faster" than expected.

"We had a very successful bilateral meeting with the Republic of South Korea today. We may be moving faster than I thought, and we will be talking technical terms as early as next week as we reach an agreement on understanding as soon as next week.

"So South Koreans came early. They came with their A game, and we will see if they follow through on that," Bessent told reporters at the White House.

South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok departed Tuesday for the US to attend the first round of trade negotiations with US officials.

The Trump administration slapped a 25% across-the-board tariff on South Korea that has been temporarily reduced to 10% for 90 days.

South Korean Acting President Han Duck-soo hopes the talks will produce a "win-win" outcome.

Choi said the two sides agreed to pursue the deal by July 8, when Trump's 90-day pause ends.

"Our side assesses that the two sides have come to share an understanding that they will craft a 'July package' aimed at removing (US) tariffs (on South Korea) by July 8, when the pause on reciprocal tariffs ends," Yonhap News Agency quoted him as saying.

Seoul also asked Washington to exempt South Korea from both reciprocal and sectoral tariffs.

"We explained (South Korea's) concerns that the imposition of reciprocal and sectoral tariffs could negatively affect bilateral economic cooperation, and we conveyed our position that exemptions and exceptions from tariffs on Korea are needed," he added.

*Islamuddin Sajid contributed to this story from Islamabad