Korean Firms to Invest Additional $150 Billion in US
- Business Companies Investments World
Global Business Magazine- 5 minutes read
The scale of US investments by South Korean companies to be announced at the upcoming South Korea-US summit on Monday will reportedly be in the range of $150 billion. This to be raised separately from the $350 billion investment fund that South Korea agreed to establish when it concluded reciprocal tariff negotiations with the US on July 31.
According to a report in South Korea’s newspaper Hankyoreh, which quoting South Korean government officials and other sources, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy had reportedly nearly concluded its recent efforts to gather data on the US investment plans from major companies ahead of the summit.
The scale of the companies’ direct investment in the US will reportedly be in the range of US$150 billion, with an official announcement to come at the summit, the report said.
In a social media message posted on July 30 after the conclusion of reciprocal tariff negotiations with Seoul, the US President Donald Trump said that South Korea had agreed to large-scale investments, which would be announced when South Korean President Lee Jae Myung visited the White House for a bilateral summit in two weeks.
In a July 31 briefing, Kim Yong-beom, the presidential office’s chief secretary for policy, said that there do appear to have been discussions in the negotiations about separate investments in the US by South Korean companies.
“There is an agenda for the two countries to discuss at the summit, and the final figures may be slightly different as the numbers are discussed further at the summit,” Kim said.
The figure of around $150 billion reportedly includes investments that South Korean companies were already making or planning to make in the US.
Samsung Electronics is currently building semiconductor plants in the Texas cities of Austin and Tyler, with a total investment of $37 billion. The Hyundai Motor Group made a pledge in March for new investments of $21 billion in the US through 2028, while LG Energy Solution began construction last year after establishing plans to invest around $21 billion in the US, including a plant in Arizona.
The Hanwha Group also appears to have presented concrete US investment plans in connection with a shipbuilding cooperation project that drew attention during the tariff talks.
The specifics of a $350 billion investment fund agreed upon at the reciprocal tariff negotiations on July 31 do not appear likely to come up at the summit. This reflects the conclusion that with so little time remaining until the summit and so many details to get in order, Seoul is not in a situation of having to rush to resolve the matter, the report said.
Implementing Plan
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Kim Yong-beom said that the tariff negotiations were concluded in their broader framework on July 31, and what is left now is the implementation plan, the report said.
“They often say that the devil is in the details. While the two sides have announced everything in general, not everything that was agreed upon has come out in writing, so we are continuing our discussions,” he said.
He also said Seoul’s position was that it would be best not to focus on the concrete implementation plan this time at the summit.
